Players Club: Jaren Hall Feels Bad For Washington State Players

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – All of the talk surrounding the Washington State vs. BYU game has been off the field issues with Nick Rolovich, plus four assistants, for not following the state of Washington mandate that public employees must be fully vaccinated to continue to hold their position.

That is taking away from the game itself between two teams heading in opposite directions. BYU has lost two consecutive games, while Washington State has won three in a row. Now, the Cougars from the Pac-12 will be scrambling with coaches filling new roles or taking on multiple roles as is interim head coach Jake Dickert who is the defensive coordinator and linebackers coach.

BYU is familiar with playing with fewer coaches which is something they did last year when coaches were out due to COVID-19, and those were some of their best performances of the season.

“This game is about players. It’s 99% about players and 1% about coaches. Our players know that. That’s what we want to believe, that’s what we do believe and our guys will be fine,” BYU assistant head coach Ed Lamb said.

#BYU assistant head coach Ed Lamb shared a message with the team to not underestimate Washington State because of the Cougs coaching situation.#BYUFootball @kslsports pic.twitter.com/LRmfyoOAPX

— Mitch Harper (@Mitch_Harper) October 21, 2021

BYU quarterback Jaren Hall joins Unrivaled each week and he is in agreement with his coach that players will make the difference and he feels bad that the Washington State players.

“It is unfortunate for the players and I feel bad for those guys. You still have your assistants and can still have a game plan,” Hall said. “To lose four assistants – including the offensive coordinator – that puts a lot of stress on those players. That could be seen as an opportunity with those players to gameplan and scheme something up. It might be something cool for them to step in and take that role.”

This could be an opportunity for players to step up as Hall said. It will take a lot more preparation for Washington State to be ready in under a week. Hall mentioned how he might handle this situation and it all surrounds teamwork.

“I’d imagine the offensive captains would come together and if we lost an offensive coordinator we would go with the next coach and sit down as captains with him and go over more game-planning during the day. I’d want to have some say for what goes on as that communication between you and your offensive coordinator is important.”

This matchup will be very interesting on many levels with each team going in opposite directions over the past few weeks in regards to wins and losses, but the focus this week has been on a distraction that was very avoidable for the Washington State side. Their players will need to come together as one to be ready to host this BYU team that is looking to snap its two-game losing streak.