Mike Leach: Some Cougars seniors are like 'empty corpses'

Washington State Cougars coach Mike Leach had some harsh words for his seniors on Monday, comparing them to zombies instead of football players.

The Cougars remain winless in the Pac-12 at 0-3, following a 19-6 loss against the Oregon State Beavers. The Cougars are 2-4 overall, but Leach hasn't seen the fire he wants in all of his veteran players.

Via Sports Press NW, Leach pointed out that lack of consistency in playing quality among his seniors is making it harder to keep some of them on the field.

"Some of them, quite honestly, have an empty-corpse quality," he said. "It's not pleasant to say or pleasant to think about, but it's a fact, which is why it's been necessary to have the youth movement we've had. We play a bunch of (redshirt) freshmen and true freshmen because we get a higher effort level out of them."

Leach acknowledged that it's hardly all of seniors on the team. He gave praise to senior wide receiver Gino Simone, who led the Cougars with 83 receiving yards against Oregon State. Unfortunately, not all of the seniors have been following his effort, as Leach likened them more to extras from The Walking Dead than football players.

"Some of [the seniors] have been great and some of them have been very poor. Some of them have had this zombie-like, go through the motions, that's how it's always been and that's how it'll always be."

The Cougars return home to try and claim their first Pac-12 victory against the Cal Golden Bears on Saturday. Cal is coming off of a 43-17 victory over the UCLA Bruins.