The Crimson and Gray Game will mark the finish of the Cougar football spring practice schedule this Saturday.
The game will start at 1 p.m. at Joe Albi Stadium in Spokane. Before the game, the team will be doing an autograph session inside of the stadium from 11 a.m. to noon.
Head Coach Mike Leach said he is excited with the prospect of traveling and showing off his new team to the Cougar faithful.
“I think it’s good,” Leach said. “Awful lot of Cougs up there in Spokane and a big part of this university, and our team and our players, always has been. I’m excited to go up there.”
The Athletic Department is expecting an all-time high turnout for the game due to the excitement swirling around Leach. They have worked with the city of Spokane to be able to accommodate more than 15,000 fans.
The largest spring game in the history of Washington, according to wsucougars.com, was a turnout of 15,000 at the University of Washington in 2010.
Quarterback Jeff Tuel said he enjoyed last year’s game and is hoping that even more fans will flock to the stadium on Saturday.
“I think it’s a great idea, last year was a lot of fun,” Tuel said. “Had a pretty good turnout last year, so I’m hoping for the same thing this year. I don’t know what all we’re going to do when we get there but it was a lot of fun last year so I’m looking forward to it.”
Tuel has been getting the majority of the reps with the first team offense and will certainly receive most if not all the snaps when the game kicks off.
Nevertheless, Leach said on Tuesday that he was not sure exactly who would get reps, but that the first team would play most of the downs during the spring game.
“Haven’t figured it out,” Leach said. “We’ll play several of them obviously and get a variety of people reps. What you try to do is get good work in because it’s a scrimmage and also the opportunity to share it with the fans. With our first group, we’re going to try and get good work and have them do a lot of the scrimmage.”
The team will have completed 13 practices after Thursday, including two scrimmages, and the team has progressed since installing both a new offensive and defensive scheme.
Nevertheless, Leach is still hard at work to have his team constantly improving and is not complacent after this spring.
“You never are,” Leach said. “I never think of it that way, there’s always something else to do. I do think we’ve improved every day, and I think that’s important. But there’s no arrival points really.”
Tuel said he is happy with how the team has responded throughout spring and he is optimistic for the future of Cougar football.
“I feel really good for where we’re at right now,” Tuel said. “We’ve got a lot of energy, it’s a whole'nother atmosphere with the new coaches and it’s taken a turn for the best. I’m really excited for the future.”
