Both sides of the WSU football team had their moments as spring ball made the transition to full pads and contact in live scrimmages, but second-year Defensive Coordinator Alex Grinch and his budding unit stood tall in Thursday’s practice at Martin Stadium, the fourth of the spring season.

Echoing his philosophy of “finding and staying close to the ball,” prevalent in a 4-3 defensive scheme that spiked the Cougar defense’s total of forced turnovers from eight to 24 in 2015, Grinch’s secondary and linebackers played with a purposeful energy not seen on Tuesday.

The Ohio native had his players run gassers after scrimmages finished for what he described as an “average” effort that did not parallel with the hard cuts off the line of scrimmage or quick reads from the quarterback core in simulated scoring settings that parallel the point system that will be used in the team’s spring game in Spokane on Apr. 23.

“Tuesday, we were kind of sluggish, didn’t have the same energy we had today,” junior cornerback Marcellus Pippins said. “It all starts before practice. Before we started our practice today, we went through our run-throughs, everything was crisp, quick and fast. That’s how we’re used to playing.”

Senior wideouts River Cracraft and Gabe Marks looked especially strong off the snap in one-on-one drills and in their short slant or hook patterns in 11-on-11 scrimmages, though after allowing starting quarterback Luke Falk space to throw to begin, the secondary quickly closed the gaps in space.

Playing a tighter coverage scheme, receivers had less of a cushion to work with along the sideline and all three quarterbacks who threw (Falk, Peyton Bender, Tyler Hilinski) were forced into making hasty reads.

In the second half of scrimmages, Hilinski was picked off twice and the usually calm and calculated Falk threw an interception of his own and fumbled a handoff on a read option play.

“Both have looked good,” Head Coach Mike Leach said of Bender’s and Hilinski ‘s performances against the defense. “I thought Bender today had a really good skill period. Hilinski did a lot of good things in team but forced some balls and the defense reacted hard and fast and made some good plays.”

Much like the in-game adjustments Grinch’s defense made in the 2015 season, settling into the scout and getting a read on the oppositions cadence after the initial “feeling out” period of a game, the defensive side won the battle in practice Thursday both on the scoreboard and in their energy level at the end.

Led by linebackers Parker Henry and Peyton Pelluer bottling up the outside on the Cougar offense’s read option running plays, the secondary had the freedom to play face up with the receivers.

Its success was especially evident with the amount of dropped or broken up passes forced at the contact point of a play that steadily augmented throughout the circuit. Frustrations began to mount in the efforts of the receiving core, as three skirmishes were started by a wideout after a tackle or hit was made by the corner or outside linebacker covering him.

“It’s a competitive game, so we battle and certainly they won a lot of their battles on the field today,” Grinch said of how he thought his players kept their composure. “We’ll enjoy those in the fall but not so much right now.”

Leach also added that players fighting like that is only good to a certain degree, as a team’s aggression should be maintained in conjunction with its discipline.

“We’ll go with that for about a week maybe,” Leach said. “Let them get it out of their system and after that, then we’ll get the fighters, we’ll stick them in the middle of the field and make the other guys do up-downs while they watch. That usually wraps it up. Nobody wants to have 85 enemies.”

The ability Grinch’s defense displayed in containing Leach’s potent and incredibly calculated air raid attack, Thursday seemed to be a reflection of the development this unit has rapidly made under its new leader.

After having to settle into Grinch’s frenetic approach and hybrid schemes, with more underclassmen starting last year than upperclassmen, it did not appear as though there was as much teaching being done to an older and more experienced group.

Now helming wiser and more conditioned football players, Grinch can begin to fine tune his playbook to match the upgrade in production transpiring.

With the way his defense forced takeaways against one of the nation’s statistical leaders in offensive efficiency and yardage on Thursday in the WSU offense and played with nuanced maturity, it is a promising spring development and one that will yield the young but innovative Grinch greater attention from the Pac-12’s offensive minds.