WSU QB Zevi Eckhaus feeling more comfortable — and more competitive — than ever | The Seattle Times
Greg Woods
April 10, 2025 at 7:16 pm
The Spokesman-Review
PULLMAN — Zevi Eckhaus had never grilled before, but the sun was shining and spring had arrived in Pullman, so he decided to go for it.
It was last Saturday, and Eckhaus and his Washington State team had just wrapped up one of its final spring practices of the year, so before parting ways for the day, Eckhaus let six or seven of his teammates know he’d be grilling some burgers and wings at his place if they’d like to stop by.
Not long after Eckhaus returned to his apartment with the necessary equipment and ingredients — he needed to buy a grill to begin with, so he recruited fellow quarterback Jaxon Potter to join him at Walmart so he could use Potter’s truck — he was greeted by much more than six or seven teammates.
“Ended up being around 27, 28 guys who showed up to the house,” Eckhaus said.
Which is why there’s now a picture floating around Instagram of Eckhaus in action: He’s wearing a gray and crimson cutoff WSU T-shirt, a towel draped over his left shoulder, holding a spatula with his right hand and giving the camera a thumbs up with his left, standing right beside the grill and a bowl of chicken waiting to be grilled.
Eckhaus laughs telling the tale — “If you’ve got 25 hungry football players, it doesn’t take much to satisfy their hungers,” he said — but it also represents another way his life has changed in the last year. After transferring from FCS Bryant in January 2024, Eckhaus came to WSU to compete for the starting quarterback’s role, which eluded him. For the 2024 season, Eckhaus backed up John Mateer, who has since transferred to Oklahoma, following former offensive coordinator Ben Arbuckle there.
Around that time, Eckhaus realized his career wouldn’t play out according to his plan, which was to win the starting job and enter this spring’s NFL draft. Instead of working out for the draft, he’s spending these days doing the same at WSU, where he’s in line for the starting job this time around. But perhaps more importantly, he’s established another level of camaraderie with his teammates, the kind that brings them together for Eckhaus’ first time manning the grill.
He’s also realized activities like these are part of what gives remote WSU its allure, part of what gives him a different experience than living in his hometown of Culver City, California, which is in the Los Angeles area. In that part of the country, Eckhaus explained, it’s all about flash: What’s gonna be the biggest picture that I can make? What’s gonna be the coolest outfit that I can wear? What’s gonna be the coolest car that I can drive?
“When you’re in a place like this, it’s not really about those things. It’s really about, OK, well, how can we spend time together and enjoy making memories that last forever?” Eckhaus said. “We spend time with one another. We go fishing, we play cards, we have fun with one another, we grill. We go to the house and we grill. So it’s things like that that you really begin to appreciate a little bit more when you’re not in an environment like Los Angeles.”
It’s also provided Eckhaus with an outlet to decompress and relax, to enjoy the company of his teammates. The word Eckhaus likes to use here is comfort. He feels more comfortable now than he did a year ago, when he had only recently moved to Pullman: More comfortable with the scenery, with the practice settings, with the games, with the locker room environments, with everything.
For Eckhaus, it’s a fine line that he walks like a tightrope: He seems to have an internal understanding that he’s in line for the Cougars’ QB1 role, which comes with some level of job security. But because of his nature — because of what he calls “a voice in the back of your head” — he can’t let himself operate like he’s there already.
Logistically, the ascension makes sense for Eckhaus, who showed real promise in WSU’s Holiday Bowl loss to Syracuse back in December: 31-for-43 passing for 363 yards, three touchdowns and two interceptions, making all kinds of pressure escapes and throws downfield. He wasn’t perfect, but he made it clear he belonged.
On the field and away from it, Eckhaus is about as confident as they come, exuding a pleasant, thoughtful, self-assured vibe. His bio on X, formerly Twitter, reads one line: “Professional dart thrower.” It’s obvious Eckhaus understands what he’s capable of — otherwise he wouldn’t have plans to go pro at some point.
But the same reason he elected to withdraw his name from the transfer portal after a two-day stay in late December is the same reason why he won’t allow himself — can’t allow himself — to operate like he has WSU’s starting QB job already. He’s too competitive, for one, but he also makes an effort to understand what it takes to flourish in that kind of role.
Eckhaus’ favorite example comes from NFL legend Tom Brady. In a documentary he recently watched on the New England Patriots, who Brady led to six Super Bowl titles, Eckhaus noticed something about Brady and his modus operandi: In practices, Brady never seemed comfortable around backup quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo, a clear No. 2 in the pecking order.
Eckhaus made clear he isn’t comparing himself to Tom Brady, but he feels a similar internal clock, the same kind of anxiety that pushes him to give his best in all capacities: In practice and in the film room, in the weight room and in the meeting room with coaches.
“If he’s off, you could lose it,” Eckhaus likes to tell himself. “And it’s not even simply about the other person doing better than I am. It’s simply about me not performing to the standard that I need to perform at.
“I definitely have that approach as I’m trying to grow, I’m trying to get better, I’m trying to be consistent. When the pads come off and I’m hanging out with my guys in the locker room after practice, that’s when you can kinda relax a little bit and enjoy the situation for what it is. But it’s kinda like when they say there’s that switch — you gotta know when to turn it on and off.”
In some ways, it should come as no surprise that even as his career has taken a trajectory he wasn’t planning, Eckhaus still feels driven as ever. He takes pride in making changes on the fly: Picking up and moving from LA to Rhode Island. Moving from Rhode Island to eastern Washington. Combine that with the competitiveness he harbors and you get a quarterback ready to lead WSU into its final year of quasi-independent ball this fall.
“In that process, you’ll find a lot of beautiful things,” Eckhaus said. “It’s similar to when you’re playing quarterback. It’s like, OK, well, I really like my go-ball here, but I catch the snap and my go-ball, he slipped. Now he’s on the ground. So now what?
“OK, I gotta progress on to my dig. Oh, my dig’s open back side, cool. Let me throw it to him. Now we’ve got 15 yards and we’re rolling. Just having the understanding that even if things don’t work out exactly how you envision it, understanding that you can still get exactly what you wanted out of it — or maybe even more if you continue to have a positive mindset and push for what you want.”
Greg Woods: Washington State beat writer for The Spokesman-Review
