1. The offense’s best player? I think we’re picking between Tahj Brooks, Josh Kelly, and Behren Morton. If we can’t decide who is the best player on the offense, then that means things have fallen right. DeRuyter was asked about Kelly and just grinned and said that he was really good and was glad that he wasn’t going to have to face him in Pullman. When your defensive coordinator has high praise that’s a pretty good sign. Brooks was obviously the offense’s best player last year and although I don’t know that I expect the same type of production, but I do expect a more efficient Brooks. And that’s not to say that he was inefficient last year, but there were times where he was absolutely leaned upon too much last year. The big question with Morton is health and his shoulder and Kittley has to stop running the quarterback, particularly Morton. I do think that Morton has the ability and the makeup to be a great quarterback, but being 100% healthy is critical for 2024.

2. I think the offensive line is pretty well set or at least it felt that way. You’ve got the following: Ty Buchanan at right tackle; Caleb Rogers at right guard; Sheridan Wilson at center; Vinny Sciury at left guard; and Sterling Porcher at left tackle. I think that’s what you’ll see in the fall and it appears that your swing linemen are Davion Carter and Maurice Rodriques. I also tend to think that Carter and Rodriques will actually get some playing time and you’ll see a rotation of 7 for the most part. The surprise of the spring was probably Wilson who I think surprised the coaches with his play at center and I also think that the staff thought that Rogers would be at center, but Wilson was so good that he solidified that spot. That’s good. If we are looking down the road Jacob Ponton & Ellis Davis were the freshmen that were maybe the best young players and Ponton was a really athletic offensive lineman.

3. I am a bit worried about the younger receivers. We heard a ton about Kelly, Coy Eakin, Caleb Douglas, and Jordan Brown. I think those guys, along with Drae McCray will be the guys that see the most snaps. We’re probably a full year away from the younger receivers, like T.J. West, Kelby Valsin, and Aiden Meeks making an impact. I know the staff thinks that Micah Hudson will make a huge impact next year and with him recovering from a knee surgery, he’s a step behind because he just didn’t get snaps in the spring. I think snaps matter, especially when you are a receiver.

4. There are so many options at tight end and we didn’t even get to see the guy who might rival Mason Tharp in terms of playing time. Jalin Conyers is supposed to be a big-time athlete that should be able to push Tharp for playing time and would expect the snaps to basically be between the two of them. That’s not to say that Johncarlos Miller won’t be good, because I think he is, but there’s only so many snaps. Tharp and Conyers are both seniors so it makes sense to have a tight end in line ready to make an impact next year along with Jason Llewellyn and Trey Jackson.

5.a. The quarterback spot is Behren Morton with Cameran Brown as the back-up. I don’t know if I expected Brown to come in and be the back-up quarterback, but he has played a year at a smaller college and has time under his belt and that makes sense. I also think I appreciate the staff recognizing that they needed a back-up quarterback behind Morton and finding a back-up quarterback, i.e. one that expects to compete but doesn’t expect to start immediately, can’t be easy. I don’t know that if Brown has to play because Morton is injured that we’ll see a truly high-flying offense, but it will be a weird hybrid that I think takes advantage of Brown’s running talents and I’d rather have an offensive coordinator take advantage of a player’s talents than one that doesn’t and we saw last year that Kittley will attempt to do that. The battle for 3 and 4 is between Jake Strong and Will Hammond. I know that the expectation is that Hammond will step up and I was pleasantly surprised to hear that Hammond didn’t throw a ton of picks during the spring, something that he had an issue with his senior year of high school (probably just trying to do too much).

5.b. It was also made very clear that the offense was going to return to a more of a passing offense, or an offense that’s going to get more vertical than it was last year. I think that’s a good thing and maybe the better way to think about it is that the offense needs to be more efficient, having a running game is great, but having a passing team that gets the ball down the field and is explosive is a healthy offense. I compared the 2022 offense and 2023 offense earlier this year. Having a guy like Kelly definitely helps with that explosive passing offense because he’s already done it at Washington State.