Seniors honored at the Apple Cup

13 different players were honored in their last home game

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HAILEE SPEIR

The WSU football team runs onto the field before the Apple Cup, Nov. 26.

TREVOR JUNT, Evergreen deputy sports editor

With over 30,000 Cougs in attendance, WSU football honored 13 Cougar seniors at their Senior Night.

Jarrett Kingston, WSU’s left tackle proposed to his girlfriend before the game, in front of over 30,000 people and multiple family members. For everyone wondering, she said yes!

He is leaving the school a year early, with one more year left of eligibility. Kingston is coming off of a season-ending injury he sustained on Nov. 5 against Stanford, he will be preparing for the NFL as a 6-foot-5 and 302-pound tackle. Kingston is simply ready to move on to a new stage of life with his fiancée.

Jack Wilson entered WSU as a transfer from Idaho. He played basketball for his first two years of college, one year at Oregon State, and the other at Idaho. Wilson is a 6-foot-11 338-pound behemoth of a man.

After he transferred to WSU and gained some weight, Wilson walked onto the football team. He is leaving the university with another year of eligibility but playing as a backup, Wilson is ready to retire and head into his career with a degree in social science. He has also joined the WSU men’s basketball team, making the trip to Eugene, Oregon for a game on Dec. 1.

Grant Stephens transferred to WSU prior to the season from Northern Colorado, where he was named the team captain and started every game at right tackle his junior year. He earned All-Big Sky Second Team.

Stephens jumped around across the offensive line this season as a model of consistency.

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WSU recognizes senior offensive lineman Grant Stephens before the Apple Cup, Nov. 26.

Robert Ferrel was a wide receiver transfer from Incarnate Word. He came in with new offensive coordinator Eric Morris and new starting quarterback Cam Ward.

Ferrel served as a safety net for Ward; usually, on some off-schedule plays, Ward would find him. He had a very decorated college career.

Ferrel spoke on ending his college career during a press conference after the Apple Cup.

“Looking back on my career, it’s been a lot of ups and downs so finally getting to the mountain top of college football I feel like is a pretty big accomplishment. But I feel like I could still go higher and hopefully continue on to a professional career,” Ferrel said.

Renard Bell is the longest-tenured Coug on the team. The wide receiver has been at WSU since 2016 when he redshirted. He received the medical redshirt and got the COVID-19 redshirt as well. This was his seventh year with the team.

In his time at WSU, Bell has served the Cougs well. In all-time receiving statistics at WSU, Bell is 11 in receptions, 19 in yards and 12 in touchdowns. Bell will leave WSU playing 47 total games in his career and has caught 174 passes for a total of 1971 receiving yards and 18 touchdowns.

Bell has been a career-long Coug and will be celebrated by fans for years to come.

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WSU wide receiver Renard Bell catches a touchdown pass from quarterback Cameron Ward during an NCAA football game against California, Oct. 1.

Antonio Pule transferred to WSU from Modesto Junior College as a defensive lineman.

In his third and final year at the university, he started 12 games in which he had 15 total tackles with 0.5 tackles for a loss and 0.5 sacks.

Amir Mujahid, also a junior college transfer, is from Laney College where he landed All-Bay 6 League First Team honors as a defensive lineman. He started 25 games and totaled 48 tackles and one forced fumble.

Christian Mejia has been a defensive lineman at WSU for the entirety of his collegiate career. He started 17 games, including 11 his senior season. He recorded 50 tackles, 3.5 sacks and one interception.

Mejia has a newborn child and has already earned his bachelor’s degree in kinesiology. 

Daiyan Henley transferred to WSU from Nevada, following his defensive coordinator, Brian Ward, who was DC for WSU in 2022. He transitioned from wide receiver to linebacker in his junior year.

Henley was extremely productive as a linebacker. He had an excellent season at Nevada, making 94 tackles and four interceptions.

At WSU, he recorded 106 tackles with 12 for a loss, four sacks, three forced fumbles, one interception and two fumble recoveries on his way to a first-team All-Pac-12 honor.

Henley is one of the best WSU defensive products to ever enter the draft. He will be a higher pick than most Cougs in the past. Potentially going within the top two rounds.

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WSU recognizes senior linebacker Daiyan Henley before the Apple Cup, Nov. 26.

Ben Wilson transferred in from Texas Christian University. The linebacker could never get his collegiate career going. Spending almost all of it as a backup and mostly on special teams.

Overall, in his career, he has been a high-energy special teamer and will end his career with 48 tackles, one for a loss, and one fumble recovery.

Jordan Lee, like Henley, he transferred from Nevada with the defensive coordinator, Ward.

He has had an injury-riddled season only playing in six games. But has had a productive collegiate career.

Lee is likely destined to be an undrafted free agent and will fight for a roster spot on an NFL team during the preseason.

Derrick Langford Jr. started his career at San Francisco Community College before transferring to WSU. Langford Jr. did not get going until the year 2021, only starting in one game in 2020.

In 2021, he started all 13 games and had 39 total tackles with 0.5 for a loss, three passes defended, three forced fumbles and two interceptions. In his final year of 2022, he recorded 33 total tackles, 0.5 tackles for a loss, six passes defended and two interceptions including a pick-six.

Armani Marsh is a walk-on who came to WSU after his high school career. He later earned a scholarship through his play and leadership.

Marsh played nickel for most of his career. His junior season was his most productive, in 2021 he had 70 total tackles, 5.5 tackles for a loss, two forced fumbles, four passes defended, three interceptions and a pick-six. In 2022, he recorded similar numbers with 60 total tackles, three tackles for loss, two sacks, five passes defended and an interception.

WSU head coach Jake Dickert spoke about Marsh and his importance to the team.

“I can’t even begin to put into words what Armani Marsh means to this program and what he means to this defense and what he means as a player and a person,” Dickert said.

WSU lost the Apple Cup and was not able to send their seniors out with a home win.

R.J. Stone, one of the biggest and most vocal leaders on the team spoke about the disappointment of not only losing the Apple Cup but not being able to give their seniors a storybook ending.

“I think this one just hurts a little more because there was our last opportunity for our seniors to have played in an Apple Cup. So I really just feel for them more than anything and I’m disappointed we couldn’t come out on top for them,” Stone said.

The seniors will have one more chance to win the day for crimson and gray at 12:30 p.m. Dec. 17 at the Jimmy Kimmel LA Bowl at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles.