Apr. 18—PULLMAN — As the weeks have gone by, as Washington State holds one spring practice after another with only two-hand touch tackling, Maxwell Woods has sometimes felt squeezed. He'll get a handoff, take off upfield, encounter a defender, make his move and dash past.Whistle."There's been a couple times where it feels like I definitely broke this tackle," Woods said, "or he may have got me."In WSU's scrimmage on Saturday, the team's second of three this spring, Woods left little room for doubt. The Cougars tackled in earnest for about the first 40 minutes, giving their rising sophomore running back a chance to catch a touchdown pass and rip off a couple other chunk gains.

He looked quick and elusive, same as he did in the winter, when he cleared the century mark in rushing yards to help WSU win the Potato Bowl and send a surge of excitement throughout the program's orbit.Woods is back for another season, as are fellow running backs Kirby Vorhees and Leo Pulalasi, who figure to make for a foreboding tailback trio in the fall. They've spent the past few weeks using spring ball to set the stage, but only in parts of scrimmages with live tackling have they found chances to put on display what could make them lethal in the fall."It really is nice to see on Saturdays, being able to get the opportunity to really show if we're gonna make that guy miss, or if they tackle us," Woods said.

"So it's a great time. I felt like we had a great day offensively and defensively today."The Cougars, who will wrap up their spring slate with their annual Crimson and Gray game at 2 p.m. next Saturday in Pullman, spent much of this weekend's scrimmage competing in what head coach Kirby Moore likes to call redzone lockout. Things went like this: Three groups of teams rotated getting the ball at the opponent's 25 yard line.

The offense got six points for a touchdown, three for a field goal, while the defense got four points for a stop or a forced field goal.The Cougs' offense won, 18-8, walking things off on a perfect rollout pass to walk-on receiver Jay Porter from quarterback Owen Eshelman, one of three signal-callers fighting for the starting job this season. Other scoring plays included Woods' touchdown reception and a touchdown pass from Caden Pinnick to tight end Hudson Cedarland, plus field goals from kickers Miguel Arenas and Jack Stevens, the latter of whom will likely start like this did last season.Still, evaluating things was a little tricky on Saturday.

Several Cougars who are all but locks for key roles missed the practice, including defensive lineman Kaden Beatty, who was out for the second straight day. Right tackle Maximus McCree appeared to be a little limited, and there was also no sign of right guard Noah Dunham, who has also now missed two practices. Their statuses are unclear, but it's unlikely they're dealing with anything serious.Additionally, veteran wide receivers Tony Freeman and Darrius Clemons were also out, as they have been for almost all of the spring slate.

Their absences meant an opportunity for Porter, who has pieced together a few nice practices in a row now, as well as more reps for wideouts like Noah Westbrook and Brandon Ganashamoorthy, both of whom are still working to establish consistent roles on offense.The good news on Saturday for the Cougars' offense was that none of their three quarterbacks threw interceptions, which were in much higher supply a week ago. Returner Julian Dugger took what would have likely been a vicious hit from defensive end Matyus McLain, who looked to be visible to Dugger as he approached, and Pinnick threw wide a time or two.

But none threw picks, which Moore and offensive coordinator Matt Miller have indicated will figure prominently in their evaluations.To set up his winning touchdown toss, Eshelman pivoted in the pocket and found freshman running back Tremayne Hill, who raced upfield for some 20 yards before being ruled down just short of the goal line."I thought Caden did a good job taking what the defense gives you in some of those situations early on," Moore said. "The two-minute drill was nice to see. Julian had a couple scrambles.

I think the big thing for Owen is, he did a good job moving in some of those critical downs. We just gotta make sure we get the ball out."