PULLMAN — Josh Meredith waited and waited for his chance to show what he could do for the Washington State football team, and when he got that opportunity in last year’s Apple Cup, the receiver was ready.
Meredith, a fifth-year senior, caught a team-high seven passes for 111 yards and a touchdown in the Cougars’ 24-19 win over Washington at Lumen Field.
It was pretty remarkable stuff for a player who had six career catches entering the Apple Cup. If people didn’t know about Meredith before that game, they did after.
Expectations for Meredith are much higher this season, as he is the top returning receiver for WSU and the leader of the unit.
Meredith finished last season with 39 catches for 472 yards and two touchdowns and he also returned a blocked punt for a touchdown. But he was his best in the annual game that means the most to Cougar fans.
“I knew my parents, who live in Spokane, were going to travel over and my best friend growing up lives in Seattle and he was going to make the game with his family,” Meredith said. “So the nerves were definitely up. I got people that I love watching me, and I know I’ve got to put a showcase on.
“Then we get to the field and Lumen is beautiful, and Seattle was Seattle. It was a great, a little bit of rain, but once the game started, the adrenaline is pumping the whole time and it’s loud and screams every play. You look at one side, it’s purple, the other side is red, and our side just got the best of them that day.”
Meredith said “it was probably the coolest that has ever happened to me.”
“Something I feel is very important to a lot of athletes is that they just need that one moment to shine and to prove that they can do what they know they can do,” he said. “I just never got the opportunity and for me, that was my opportunity, and I took it. It definitely gave me a confidence boost. That definitely taught me that if you do the right things, the right thing is going to happen.”
Meredith seems primed for more performances like that this season, the product of patiently waiting to move to the top of the Cougars’ receiving corps.
Meredith, 6 feet and 193 pounds, was a three-star prospect out of football power Mater Dei High School in Santa Ana, but success came slowly at WSU.
He redshirted in 2021, not getting into a game, then caught one pass while playing in six games in 2022, then had three catches in 2023 while playing in every game.
“You leave high school as that guy, the person who gets all the love, and you’re told that you’re going to come here and make a difference,” Meredith said. “My difference didn’t start until the fourth season. I will say those first three seasons definitely got into my head, but it comes to a point where everyone has their role.
“My role at that time was either on scout team or maybe just special teams. But in that fourth season, I was on offense, catching the ball, doing what I wanted to do, and this next season is going to be on top of that.”
It wasn’t certain late last year that Meredith’s final season would be at WSU. He entered the transfer portal after coach Jake Dickert left for Wake Forest, then withdrew his name after being reached out to by new coach Jimmy Rogers and his staff.
“Kudos to them, because they reached out to me when I was in the portal and they didn’t have to do that,” Meredith said. “No one has to do that, and the fact that they multiple coaches did — the first one hit me at like 10 p.m. — really shows that they care.
“They talk to you like a real human, not talking about business, but just talking about football and what they want you to do for the team. They knew that I was an older guy, and they knew they had a very young receivers room and we had people leaving. They gave me an opportunity to be a leader for the group, a voice for the group, and an example for that group. It’s what I always wanted.”
WSU fans might notice that Meredith is faster. He took it personally in the offseason when he was not mentioned in a list of deep threats in the Cougars receiving group.
“I knew I needed to be faster,” said Meredith, who worked with the conditioning staff on exercises that increase speed. “I got these blazers around me in the room — like we’ve got a fast receiver room — but I know what they can do, I can do, and sometimes better. So I took it upon myself to be my best version, my healthiest version, and I put in the most work I’ve ever put in and it showed.
“I will say that my max speed the past two years was maybe 21 miles per hour, maybe, and this year I hit 23, so that was a big accomplishment.”
Rogers said Meredith has been “unbelievable.”
“He’s a quiet leader, but he has had a huge impact on the receiver room,” Rogers said. “Everybody sees his competitive spirit and how hard he works to be the best player that he can be. It’s not talk — he actually backs it up with his actions — and he’s been huge for us.”
Meredith said this is the season he is most excited for.
“We have this new staff, these new people, and with the teams that we get to play we get to showcase what us underdogs are able to do,” he said. ” As one of the leaders and hopefully a captain coming to season, I’m going to take it in a way that this is the best thing that can ever happen to us.”