COMMENTARY: Dickert’s WSU defensive development shining on Saturdays and Sundays

Jamorri Colson didn’t have to be involved in the play after Hawaii quarterback Brayden Schager found wide receiver Nick Cenacle for a 12-yard first-down conversion on third-and-10.

But he was.

The Washington State cornerback swarmed to the ball from the upper portion of the field to lay a powerful hit on Cenacle. His effort forced a fumble and set up WSU’s second of six touchdown drives in its 42-10 victory over Hawaii on Saturday in Pullman.

“The ball finds energy,” WSU coach Jake Dickert said of Colson’s play. “What a hit that was. You get yourself in a position where the ball finds you if you play with tons of energy.”

The Cougars forced the Rainbow Warriors to turn the ball over three times during their homecoming win at Gesa Field with two forced fumbles and an interception.

The day after the WSU defense delivered the win, a former Coug snagged his first career NFL interception. Former WSU and current Kansas City Chiefs safety Jaden Hicks picked off San Francisco 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy in the fourth quarter of the Chiefs 28-18 win Sunday.

It was a big moment for the NFL rookie and part of an exciting day in an encouraging year for pro Cougs, particularly those coached by Dickert within the past five years.

Hicks’ teammate Jaylen Watson, also a former WSU defensive back, is third on the Chiefs’ roster in tackles and leads the reigning Super Bowl champions in passes defensed. Unfortunately, he suffered what may be a season-ending ankle fracture on Sunday.

Elsewhere in the league, rookie Chau Smith-Wade is the starting nickel for the Carolina Panthers, second-year linebacker Daiyan Henley is a starter for coach Jim Harbaugh’s Los Angeles Chargers and rookie Brennan Jackson has found his way to the field for the Los Angeles Rams.

That’s five Cougs who played at Wazzu within the last four years contributing to an NFL roster.

WSU has a total of 14 alumni on NFL teams between the active rosters, practice squads or injured lists, eight of which played at WSU within the past four seasons.

What is it about Dickert’s defensive recruitment, retention and development that has allowed the Cougs to put so many guys in the NFL in recent years?

The WSU coach was eager to credit his staff and the players themselves.

“You got to find the right guys,” Dickert said. “We talk about it a lot in our scouting department about having dynamics over dimensions. All those guys are extremely great athletes, love football, work their tail off and (that puts) them in great positions to succeed.”

The Cougs have also benefited from unique circumstances to recruit guys who were almost certainly bound for bigger schools.

“We probably don’t get (Jaden) Hicks if there (wasn’t) COVID, because he would have played his senior year and would end up at USC,” Dickert said.

The Chiefs’ other resident Coug — Watson — found his way to the Palouse after becoming academically ineligible at USC and starting at a junior college.

Current WSU freshman corner Ethan O’Connor reopened his recruitment after initially committing to UCLA. O’Connor’s family was worried that the Bruins would pull their offer and O’Connor instead chose WSU, where his uncle Jason David excelled as a defensive back in the early 2000s.

Cougar football has found a niche as a harbor for talented guys who get southern California attention, make Hollywood-worthy plays and earn NFL opportunities.

It’s a process the Cougs are seeing play out this year with budding stars like Steve Hall, O’Connor and Colson and the driven development of guys like third-year sophomore Buddah Al-Uqdah, who recorded six tackles, batted away a pass and picked off another on Saturday.

“Buddah was our defensive player of the game,” Dickert said. “The big plays (and) the physical nature reminded me of Texas Tech Buddah. Now we need to continue to follow that up, and he needs to continue to get better. But when he’s playing physical, downhill and aggressive, and his eyes are right, Buddah is a really good player, and he’s still got a lot of years to play.”

Al-Uqdah also tallied three tackles, three QB hits and forced and recovered a fumble Sept. 7 versus Texas Tech.

WSU’s defense has embraced the “bend but don’t break” identity. The Cougars have given up an average of 425.9 yards per game and have been gutted by San Jose State’s passing attack and the leading Heisman Trophy candidate Ashton Jeanty and the Boise State Broncos. For every poor performance, they have risen up to contain dangerous offenses such as limiting Texas Tech to 16 points on Sept. 7, making the game-sealing play against Washington in the Apple Cup and making the plays down the stretch to win in Fresno, particularly O’Connor’s go-ahead pick-6.

The Cougs may not be perfect, but they are tough and in Dickert’s defense, that is the standard.

That’s the standard that led Colson to make a play on the ball when he could have just left it to his three or four other teammates who were closer to the ball carrier and it’s the standard that put Hicks in a position to make his first career NFL pick.

Quite the weekend for the Cougar defense past and present.

Taylor can be reached at 208-848-2268, staylor@lmtribune.com or on X (formerly Twitter) @Sam_C_Taylor.