Washington State Football: 5 takeaways from 2017 regular season

3. Mike Leach must find the next quarterback

Luke Falk, Washington State’s most prolific quarterback in the history of the program, is graduating and Mike Leach has to find a replacement for him. From 2014-17, Falk threw for over 14,000 yards, and 119 touchdowns with 39 interceptions. That’s about a 3-to-1 touchdown-to-interception ratio and 7.1 yards per attempt.

Falk, a native of Logan, Utah, took over as the starter late in his freshman campaign and really never looked back. He arrived in Pullman as a walk-on and earned a scholarship upon taking over the quarterback role. Even as Falk was setting records at Wazzou, he was removed from games for poor play during his senior season.

The senior’s replacement was Tyler Hilinski, a redshirt sophomore from California who threw five touchdowns and six interceptions. The 6-foot-3, 220-pound passer never looked quite as comfortable in Leach’s Air-Raid offense and you can imagine the competition is open this spring.

That competition will be from Cammon Cooper, who I previously discussed regarding recruiting. He is the four-star from Utah. Leach does like working with the same person for four years and it’s possible Cooper could unseat Hilinski.

A familiar name is already on campus in freshman John Bledsoe. If that name is familiar it’s because his father, Drew, played quarterback in the NFL for 14 seasons and is also a Washington State alum. John played his high school ball in Bend, Ore., and was first-team all-state as a senior.

Whoever wins the quarterback job will be an intelligent quarterback that limits mistakes and his good timing on the mesh, six and stick pass combinations Leach uses in his offense.