How Jimmy Rogers is Encouraging Continued Growth From His Washington State Team

In his first game as the head coach of the Washington State Cougars, Jimmy Rogers saw his team fight through many of their own mistakes for a 13-10 win over the Idaho Vandals.

Following that game, Rogers was blunt with his team, pointing out how their slew of offensive miscues and trouble defending the run were almost disastrous.

Rogers spoke to the media on Wednesday about his observations from the team's practices and what they'll need to do in the coming weeks to improve, while also noting some key injury updates for the Cougs.

Watch the full media availability below.

NOTES

-"I just got done telling them I'm their biggest fan, but I got to be their biggest critic. And so they got the blunt honest truth from me on Monday when we had met and watched the film. And it's not just the offensive line, it's just together there's a lot of errors, right? Maybe the errors didn't show up on defense, but they're still in there. We played hard on defense and we had some success as far as things that we try to hammer home, but there's issues there that we need to work on all the time and not just ignore those things as well. But I thought yesterday's practice was really clean...I think more than anything, these players need to know that we love them and we want what's best for them and we're going to push them. But we got to be honest with them so that they know what they actually need to improve at."

-On Devin Ellison Missing Another Game:
"He's just dealing with the heel contusion thing that we can't figure out. I don't expect him to go this week. You know, he's been out for a while now. I mean, he's got uber amount of talent, but he's got to execute and he's got to do things right, too. And, right now it's unfortunate. He's probably not going to be playing on Saturday. So we'll take it as he goes. And when he's healthy, you know, he's going to get an opportunity to compete versus the rest of these guys. And he's got to earn that too and know what he's doing just like the other guys in the group are doing."

-On what he needs the defensive transfers from South Dakota State to continue doing: "I think that they need to get everybody around them communicating and doing their job just as good as those guys do their job. I'm not saying that those players are perfect either. They need to improve, but there's a knowledge there, right? And I think there's a comfortability there in playing in a scheme that they can teach and they need to teach. And so when they see things that are gray, or not as clean as what they should be, that's their opportunity to communicate how they've learned over time. And I think that's just leadership, just you're giving wisdom to those of something that you've gone through and experiences that you've had, that you've failed at, so you can become a better player and that your teammates can become a better player, to become a better team."