WSU Football | Pitoitua hurting, likely to start

Washington State's best defensive lineman has a foot injury but is expected to start Saturday night against Idaho.

Coach Bill Doba said Thursday that defensive tackle Ropati Pitoitua, who is 6 feet 8, 290 pounds, has a sore and swollen foot and will be held out of practice.

Doba received news of the injury Thursday afternoon.

"They don't like where the pain is so they are going to rest him right now and see how it goes," Doba said. "They'll do a CAT scan on him next week. I hope it's not a stress fracture."

He said Pitoitua (pronounced Puh-toy-to-uh) will start against the Vandals.

The Cougars already have one defensive tackle, A'i Ahmu, playing as he recovers from a foot fracture.

Doba said backup running back Chris Ivory (shoulder) will be held out of the game. He had an 80-yard touchdown run against the Vandals last year.

Doba said punter Reid Forrest, a redshirt freshman from Ephrata, will get an opportunity to play. Starter Darryl Blunt had a punt for zero yards against San Diego State. Doba said of Forrest, "I just want to give him a shot and see what he can do. He's doing well in practice."

Doba said No. 2 kicker Loren Langley, who has been out with a leg injury, won't start but could see some action against the Vandals if the Cougars have a lead.

Brink learns

from Mannings

Quarterback Alex Brink has worked the past three years at the Manning Passing Academy in Louisiana. The academy is a camp for high-school players and is led by Archie Manning and sons Peyton, Eli and Cooper.

College and pro players help at the camp. Brink said there were Division I quarterbacks from a variety of schools working at the camp and he realized that "it's not just one guy getting booed or one guy getting all the credit. Those things happen to everybody no matter what school you are at. Personally, that's something I really took from it."

He said he also learned preparation tips from the Mannings and NFL players at the camp.

"Every [repetition] they take in the offseason is important, and it's the same in practice. That's something I really took away," Brink said.

Note

• More than 29,700 tickets have been sold for the game. The crowd is expected to exceed 31,000.