The Washington State football program has recently become known as a heavy-throwing team, stemming from the roots of Mike Leach’s time on the Palouse.
The love for the pass was so ingrained in the culture of the Leach-led teams that in 2019, the Cougs blew a 32-point halftime lead against UCLA, where Wazzu quarterback Anthony Gordon threw for an absurd 570 yards and 9 touchdown passes.
While the days of choosing a loss over the run seem gone, WSU’s history of rushing the ball has been somewhat bland.
Reuben Mayes is the only Coug to eclipse 3,000 career rushing yards, and only nine other Cougs finished with 2,000 career rushing yards.
Recently, things have changed.
Washington State hired Ben Arbuckle as its offensive coordinator heading into the 2023 season, as head coach Jake Dickert looked to add offensive stability.
The Cougs rushed for 1,020 yards through 12 games in 2023.
However, in 2024, Wazzu has rushed for 1,650 yards, with just nine games played.
The difference has been John Mateer and Wayshawn Parker.
Quarterback John Mateer has been exceptional on the ground through nine games and is the leading rusher for the Cougs with 630 yards and 11 touchdowns.
This is not an attempt to downplay Mateer’s impressive rushing campaign, but rather a nod to Parker and the future of WSU on the ground.
So far, Parker is second in rushing for WSU with 595 yards on the ground, 66 yards a game and 5.8 yards per carry.
This is absurd efficiency for a true freshman, especially considering he began the year sharing carries with multiple backs.
Parker had his best performance so far last Saturday, as he rushed for a career-best 149 yards on 11 carries in a 49-28 win over Utah State.
Parker became the first Washington State running back to have 100 rushing yards in a game since Nakia Watson had 116 yards against Arizona State in 2022.
If Parker continues at this rate, he will finish with about 793 yards on the ground this year. That would set the record for most rushing yards by a freshman in WSU history.
If Parker remains in Pullman for his college career, he has the potential to destroy rushing records for WSU and give future Pac-12 defensive coordinators nightmares.
