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PULLMAN -- It might not be this weekend, but a return for Washington State tight end Trey Leckner is getting closer to a return by the day. Kirby Moore met with the media on Thursday and said the 6-3, 243-pound fourth-year tight end from Snohomish is nearly there. "Trey Leckner is getting close," Moore said. "I think he'll be game to game here as we progress moving forward. He's been moving around quite a bit in practice." Getting Leckner back will be a huge victory for the Cougars when it does come to fruition. Saturday's tilt vs. Arizona on Saturday at 4:30 p.m. on CBS may be ambitious, but it does seem as if the next week or two is in the cards. Leckner caught 24 passes for 186 hashes and three touchdowns last season and five passes for 87 hashes and a score two years ago. He re-aggravated a foot injury that required surgery this summer and was projected to be out until midseason. Moore also had a few other injury updates. "Mike Hughes will be out," Moore said. "Malachi Wrice will be out. Jalil Tucker will be a game-time decision." Those three updates were more or less confirmations from Monday's media availability. Hughes and Wrice, both defensive ends will be out multiple weeks with lower-body injuries. Tucker, a starting cornerback who injured his leg in the Apple Cup, missed the Kansas State game and warmed up vs. Duquesne, but ultimately was held out. Related: Isaiah Hung's rapid rise at Washington State Here is more of what Moore had to say on Thursday ... ON JAMAREY SMITH'S POSITIONAL FLEXIBILITY: "Jamarey's got a ton of length. He can play nickel, he can play corner. I think he's had reps at safety during the offseason. So he's another guy who's just taken a huge jump from last season. I think throughout the offseason, being comfortable with the amount of communication that has to happen. Give Coach Burns and BT (Brandyn Thompson) a ton of credit for those guys playing at a high level." ON THE WORK ETHIC OF DT PAUL HUTSON III: "Paul is locked in every week to the objective on hand. And he has a great amount of energy every practice. He loves playing the game of football, and I think that's contagious to his teammates as well ... there were a couple guys with connections with where he was coming from. He produced at a high level at those places. We wanted to find guys who'd done it before on the field." ON THE STATUS OF DT SONI FINAU: "That's still to be determined. I don't know necessarily where that's at right now." ON WR TANK HAWKINS AND HIS SIMILARITIES TO CHICO MCCLATCHER, A FORMER UW PLAYER MOORE COACHED: "We have to find more ways to create those explosive plays on first and second down. I think there was flashes of it last week in the first half, more consistent play of it in the second half. And that's something we're continuing to work on right now. "He's similar (to McClatcher). Really good player with the ball in hand. I think he's getting more and more comfortable as a route runner. Obviously his explosiveness, whether it was the punt return or getting down field showed up. So we have to make sure he's a huge part of things." ON KICKER JACK STEVENS REGAINING HIS CONFIDENCE: "Yesterday, we had a two minute situation. I believe he made a kick from about 45 or 50 yards. So really it's about the work and he's doing a really good job throughout this week."  Trey Leckner (Photo: Cougfan.com/Whittney Thornton)