Head Coach: Jimmy Rogers is entering his 1st season as the head coach of the Cougars. He was previously at South Dakota State for two years, and all he did in his first season as a head coach was win a FCS National Title, pretty good I would say!
Program Outlook: Washington State has long been known as one of the most challenging power conference jobs out there and things got even more difficult with the Pac-12 exodus, but they navigated it decently with an 8 win season despite portal losses. Now the Pac-12 is rebuilt, and that already puts this program in a better position. There’s still challenges moving forward, recruiting will always be pretty difficult and player development is important but history has shown you can develop great players here.
How does the 2025 Roster look?: Washington State ranks 126th in the country returning 34% of their production per Punt and Rally’s returning production rankings. Key players for the Jackrabbits, I mean Cougars will start with the RBs. After years of passing the ball the identity will change dramatically, both Angel Johnson and Kirby Voorhees followed the staff over, they’ll be good right away. I’m not sure what to make of the offensive line, this unit struggled to run block in recent years but this staff knows Olines and didn’t hit the portal much. Zevi Eckhaus is projected to be the starting QB, he was a star at Bryant before coming in and waiting behind Mateer last season. Eckhaus played in the Holiday bowl and put up an impressive 363 yard passing performance despite operating a skeleton squad against Syracuse. WR Josh Meredith returns to lead a group of receivers that will otherwise be made of portal guys. The defense is mostly a mix of rotational returnees from last year and guys who transferred in from South Dakota State. The defensive line will be led by Raam Stevenson and Isaac Terrell on the outside, Bryson Lamb on the inside along with South Dakota State transfer Max Baloun. LBs Parker McKenna and Keith Brown get set for bigger roles. They are joined by another Jackrabbit in Caleb Franci who is a big time playmakers, and they get Gavin Barthiel back from Utah State, he was with the team in 2023. The Jackrabbits make up almost the entire secondary and it’s a good one. Corner Colby Humphrey is physical and was one of the best from FCS, you can say the same about safeties Mathew Durrance and Tucker Large.
Screenshot from FBSchedules.com
2025 Schedule Thoughts: Washington State put together a very fun and challenging schedule. They have their conference schedule against Oregon State and Oregon State, along with soon to be conference games against San Diego State and Colorado State. They have fun road games at Virginia, North Texas and James Madison along with a challenging one at Ole Miss. It’s also great to see Toledo on there. They have historical rivalries with the Apple Cup and Idaho at home, Washington is of course a big one but Idaho has been a top 8 FCS program lately and can’t be taken lightly either (though I suspect the staff is well aware of that).
Final Thoughts: It’s a fascinating new era for Washington State, this has been a pass happy program for more than a decade now but you’re going to see that transition into more of a run game with a focus on playing tough defense. How will that work in year 1? We shall see, I think the staff managed to patch together a solid roster that will finish with a winning record at least, how well it all comes together will determine if they can achieve more.
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