Ron Stone Jr. on Washington State's mentality: 'It's us versus the world'

Washington State isn’t expected to do much this preseason according to the pundits, but edge rusher Ron Stone Jr. hopes to prove those expectations wrong. Coming off of a 7-6 season, the Cougars were picked to finish seventh in the conference in the preseason Pac-12 media poll.

With teams like USC, Washington, Utah and Oregon all bringing back top-tier quarterbacks and have garnered the most attention as conference title contenders. However, as Stone explained at Pac-12 Media Day on Friday, the Cougars aren’t allowing the preseason prediction to affect how they approach this year.

“Yeah, it’s been around just about as long as I’ve been there,” he said. “It’s really an identity that we want to keep going. We feel like nobody wants the Cougs to win. We’re all we got, we’re all we need. As long as we have each other and we can rely on ourselves, we’re going to be facing so many different obstacles.

“It’s us versus the world, basically.”

Washington State saw plenty of success in Stone’s first season with the team in 2018 under Mike Leach. Although Stone played only one game as he took a redshirt, the Cougars finished the season 11-2 and claimed an Alamo Bowl victory to rank No. 10 in the final AP poll.

However, in the four seasons since then, WSU has managed just a 21-22 record and gone 0-3 in its bowl games. Coach Jake Dickert is set to enter his second full season leading the team, which returns starting quarterback Cameron Ward and leading rusher Nakia Watson. Ward ranks fifth among returning Pac-12 quarterbacks with 3,232 yards passing, 23 touchdowns and nine interceptions a year ago.

Defensively, Washington State returns a few key starters from a team that ranked third in the Pac-12 in points allowed per game (22.9). Not only is Stone back for his sixth year on the defensive line, but fellow defensive end Brennan Jackson also returns to give the Cougars some strong play on the edge. The pair were second team All-Pac-12 performers a year ago, combining for eight sacks with 16 tackles for loss.

WSU also brought in Texas transfer Devin Richardson and Maryland transfer Ahmad McCullough, the No. 82 and No. 92 linebackers according to On3’s Transfer Portal Rankings. Veterans Chau Wade-Smith and Sam Lockett are back in the secondary after accounting for seven of the Cougars’ 21 forced turnovers this past season.

With those returning players and new additions, Washington State will look to take some teams by surprise. The Cougars open up the season Sept. 2 against Colorado State.