The play fell short far too often last year at this spot
PULLMAN — It’s a tough but accurate assessment that the weakest part of the Washington State defense in 2024 was the safety play. By default, the Cougars are likely to see improvement in that area, following the old saying: “it can’t get much worse.” However, beyond this familiar adage, there are strong indications that Jimmy Rogers and position coach Pete Menage could transform the safety position at WSU from its lowest point into one of its strongest by 2025.\
Wazzu lost its top four safeties from last year, but they’ve replaced them with a group from South Dakota State. Tyson Durant graduated, Adrian Wilson moved to Arizona State, Tanner Moku graduated, and Jackson Lataimua entered the transfer portal. Additionally, former safeties and nickels coach Jordan Malone went to Wake Forest, and Reece Sylvester left for Incarnate Word.
The new quartet worked hard, with Moku standing out as a strong leader. However, Jake Dickert’s scheme placed significant demands on the safety position, and Malone’s coaching struggled without Jaden Hicks.
It’s worth noting that Durant and Moku, who started the most games at safety with nine and eight respectively, along with Wilson’s and Lataimua’s contributions, resulted in some concerning statistics for the 2024 season.
Pro Football Focus revealed that WSU was tied for the sixth-most missed tackles in the country with 54. Moku himself had more missed tackles than four FBS safety units. In terms of pass coverage, Durant received an average grade overall, while Moku was rated below average. Notably, Durant did achieve an above-average zone coverage grade, but both struggled significantly in man coverage according to PFF. The highest-rated Cougar safety in pass coverage was Wilson (with four starts), who ended up with an average grade, ranking 270th out of 970 players evaluated by PFF.
Now, looking ahead to the Cougars’ safety situation for 2025, it’s clear that while there is a notable distinction between FCS and FBS, the new additions seem poised to be improvements.
Durrance and Large combined for just 15 missed tackles this season, and Large has only missed 22 tackles throughout his entire career according to PFF.
Tucker Large received FCS All-America honors from Sports Illustrated and was a two-time All-Missouri Valley nominee. He is projected as a free safety and, as we approach spring ball, he looks to be the frontrunner for the starting position when games commence in the fall. Large, standing 5-11 and weighing 185, hails from Sioux Falls and has one year of eligibility left.
He started nine games this past season, missing four due to injury and easing his way back in for the last two. In 2023, he played all 15 games for the undefeated FCS national champion Jackrabbits, recording 102 tackles (two for loss), seven interceptions, and an impressive 21 pass breakups across 37 career games. He was likely one of the top performers on the Jackrabbit defense and should seamlessly integrate into Wazzu’s lineup.
While Wazzu has had its share of standout strong safeties in the last decade, such as Hicks and Jalen Thompson, it’s been some time since they’ve featured a top-tier free safety. Players like Sam Lockett and George Hicks were solid, but they don’t quite reach the caliber of Large.
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