One of the things we already know about new Washington State defensive coordinator Alex Grinch is that he's a plus-recruiter who specializes in the Southeast recruiting territory and Georgia, in particular. He also has experience recruiting in Texas, among other regions.

Grinch had a very successful run as a recruiter at Missouri, eventually leading the point on three-star athlete Tavon Ross, who picked Missouri over offers from Alabama, Georgia, Miami and others coming out of the 2014 class. Ross' head coach at Bleckly County (Ga.) High School says Grinch was as good as it gets.

"I think he's outstanding. Amazing," Bleckly County (Ga.) coach Tracy White told the Columbia Tribune. "They get off the beaten path. We're in the center of [Georgia], which is very rural, and most people get off an airplane in Atlanta and never leave the area and get what they want.

"He found Tavon early. He stays in contact, comes and visits any time he's in Georgia. I think he's a great recruiter. He's an excellent recruiter. I like the way he does it."

Grinch also helped find Hershey (Pa.) defensive tackle Harold Brantley in the 2012 class. According to the Columbia Tribune, Grinch used his connections made at New Hampshire to lead the Tigers' staff towards Brantley who, as a redshirt sophomore, is one of the top defensive lineman in the SEC.

In the 2013 class, Grinch landed three-star quarterback Eddie Printz, who many believe will be the next great quarterback at Missouri. The Marietta (Ga.) Lassiter product, who redshirted in 2013 and won the backup quarterback job last fall, was ranked the No. 32 pro-style quarterback in the 2013 class and picked the Tigers over offers from Arkansas, Auburn, Florida State, UCLA and many others.

Washington State inside receivers coach David Yost, the Tigers' former offensive coordinator and recruiting coordinator, also had a hand in landing Printz. But, in addition to Printz and Ross, Grinch has landed verbal commitments from three-star athlete Thomas Wilson and four-star receiver Nate Brown over the last two years.

Wilson, a 5-foot-10, 176-pound safety out of Buford (Ga.), was rated the No. 27 safety in the 2014 class and picked Missouri over offers from Arizona, Kansas State, Michigan State, Mississippi State, Tennessee, West Virginia and many others.

Brown hailed from Suwanee (Ga.) South Gwinett and was rated the No. 49 receiver in the country, earning him a 5.8 four-star rating. He picked the Tigers over offers from Georgia, Georgia Tech, Louisville, Vanderbilt and several others.

In the current class, Grinch led the point on one known Missouri verbal commit, T.J. Warren, a cornerback from Conyers (Ga.) Rockdale County. Warren, a 5.5 three-star prospect, picked Missouri over offers from Georgia Tech and Indiana. He has yet to officially visit Missouri and with the Cougars still in the market for a cornerback in this class, he's one to watch.

Three Missouri targets, who were recruited by Grinch, are set to officially visit Missouri this weekend and their recruitment remains open -- Dublin (Ga.) receiver Terez Hall.

There may be one early connection between Grinch and Washington State, and that is Moultrie (Ga.) Colquitt County running back Sihiem King, who officially visits Washington State on January 23. King and Grinch have been in contact earlier in this cycle, however the Tigers never officially offered King and he's now down to Wake Forest, West Virginia and Wazzu.

Washington State has started to recruit the Southeast a lot heavier in the last few cycles, particular in 2015, where in addition to King, the Cougars have extended offers to 10 prospects in Georgia alone. It can be expected that Grinch will use those ties to recruit the Southeast while at Washington State.

All in all, PowerMizzou.com associate editor Pete Scantlebury says that while his defensive coordinator abilities are the unknown at this point, Grinch will be an immediate impact guy on the recruiting trail with a track record of success.

"But, regardless of that unknown, he's a bright, energetic young coach, who will be an asset on the recruiting trail. He REALLY made a quick impact on Georgia, an area Missouri never really recruited before the SEC move."


This post was edited on 1/14 4:53 PM by Britton Ransford

Washington State preferred walk-on kicker Jarry Jones will visit Washington State this weekend. The 6-foot-2, 190-pound kicker is from Stanhope (N.J.) Lenape Valley Regional and also held a preferred walk-on offer from Cincinnati.

Mountain View (Calif.) St. Francis defensive tackle Thomas Toki will officially visit Oklahoma State this weekend.

Update: I spoke with Toki this evening and he tells me that he'll also have an in-home visit with Oklahoma State tomorrow. Coach Joe Salave'a will have an in-home visit with Toki on Friday. Toki says he's also going to officially visit Oregon State and Arizona State but says he's still 100 percent solid to Washington State. I think he wants to enjoy the recruiting process this month.

This post was edited on 1/14 6:10 PM by Britton Ransford

....I tend to think with where we are in the re-build, we need as many salesman on our staff as possible. They say Grinch can recruit.

As long as Grinch is collaborative, uses the staff with experience, I think it could be the right fit. We need someone who can fire up the troops and isn't going to be stubborn in his approach (I tend to think Breske was).

I'm hoping they hire an experienced BCS coach (preferrably DC, i.e. Bray, who's not working) to take Volero's role in coaching LB's. I think having a tenured guy that Grinch can bounce stuff off of isn't a bad idea.

In the meantime, let's get Grinch out on the recruiting trail.

Former Missouri safeties coach Alex Grinch has been named the Washington State defensive coordinator, according to an official release from the school, which can be found below.

"We are excited to have Alex part of our football family," said Leach. "He is a passionate, tireless worker who brings a tremendous excitement and aggression to our team. He has a track record of developing young talent which will be of great benefit to our defense.

"He is highly regarded in the coaching field and has a very bright future," Leach continued. "We are very fortunate to have Alex at Washington State University."

Grinch will also be in charge of coaching the secondary, according to the release. Grinch has been a secondary coach his entire career with previous stops at Wyoming and New Hampshire, in addition to Missouri.

"I'm excited to join the Washington State football program and thank Coach Leach for the opportunity," said Grinch. "It's time to get to work to produce a defense that Cougar fans can be proud of!"

Link: https://washingtonstate.rivals.com/wire.asp

According to a FootballScoop.com report, Mike Leach has hired Missouri safeties coach Alex Grinch as Washington State defensive coordinator. Grinch has been the safeties coach at Missouri since 2012 and has a reputation as a strong recruiter with ties to the Southeast.

Here's his bio: http://www.mutigers.com/sports/m-footbl/mtt/grinch_alex00.html
Rivals recruiting profile: https://footballrecruiting.rivals.com/viewcoach.asp?Coach=3141&Team=49&Sport=1&Year=2014

More soon.

It "appears" it's official… He is no longer listed on the official roster.

Thanks for the tweet Britton! I am so stoked that this kid worked hard and finally got in.

http://espn.go.com/college-sports/football/recruiting/player/_/id/170120/deion-singleton


Britton, is there any way we can count him towards this class since his star ranking was stripped from him? Neither of our classes have reflected the star value that he truly represents.


Go Cougs!!!!

This post was edited on 1/11 5:35 PM by CrimsonDisciple

Despite having one running back in this class, transfers and an injury to James Williams have the Cougars in a position to take another running back in this class. Washington State would love to land Moultrie (Ga.) Colquitt County running back Sihiem King, though West Virginia appears to be the favorite right now.

While King has an offer and an official visit lined up to Washington State on January 23, he's still considered a West Virginia lean at this point. He visits Wake Forest this weekend followed by the trip to WSU and lastly a trip to WVU on January 30.

So, who is a potential backup plan for the Cougars at running back should King pick WVU or Wake Forest?

It could be Chattanooga (Tenn.) Notre Dame running back Auston Banks, who says the WSU staff has been in regular contact with him and should King decide to commit elsewhere, he would jump on to their radar, according to our SMU site. Banks holds an offer from SMU.

Story: https://washingtonstate.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1725117


This post was edited on 1/14 12:43 AM by Britton Ransford

Nate Clouse of Husker Online, our Nebraska site, caught up with Spring (TX) cornerback Willie Sykes to talk about his recent Nebraska offer, his top three, which includes Washington State, and his visit schedule.

Link: https://washingtonstate.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1725033

(via HuskerOnline.com)

Here's the thread I'll use to post in-home visits for Washington State prospects, which should start to pick up this week. The football recruiting dead period ends Wednesday at midnight. Here's a look at where coaches will be week-by-week...

Week 1 —— January 15-18January 14 notes...
Coach Mele will visit Steilacoom (Wash.) linebacker Fotu Leiato on Thursday (Jan.15).Coach Simmons, Coach Leach and Coach Wilson will visit four-star linebacker commit Kyahva Tezino on Thursday (Jan. 15).Coach Salave'a will visit four-star defensive tackle commit Thomas Toki on Friday (Jan. 16).WSU coaches will visit three-star defensive tackle commit Dillon Faamatau on Thursday (Jan. 15).Coach Mastro will visit Moultrie (Ga.) Colquitt Country running back Sihiem King on Thursday (Jan. 15).Coach Leach and Coach McGuire will visit three-star offensive line commit Davis Perrott on Sunday (Jan. 18). Coach McGuire will also visit Perrott at school on Thursday (Jan. 15).Coach Salave'a had an in-home visit with Washington State commit Hunter Mattox on Thursday.
January 15 notes...
Coach Simmons will visit three-star receiver commit Deontay Burnett today (Jan. 15).Coach Yost will visit three-star receiver George Wilson today (Jan. 15).
January 16 notes...Coach McGuire stopped by to see Noah Myers at school today (Jan. 16).Week 2 —— January 19-25January 16 notes..
Coach McGuire and Coach Leach will have an in-home visit with Noah Myers "sometime next week."Coach Mele, Salave'a, Grinch, Manning and Leach will visit Fotu Leiato on January 25.
January 19 notes...
Coach McGuire, Leach and Wilson had an in-home visit with new Wazzu commit Joseph Price today (Jan. 19).Coach Mastro, Salave'a and Leach will have an in-home visit with Hunter Mattox on Jan. 20.Coach Leach and Coach Wilson visited Wazzu commit Kameron Powell tonight (Jan. 19).Coach Mastro, Coach McGuire and Coach Yost visited three-star receiver commit Kyle Sweet tonight (Jan. 19).
January 20 notes...
Coach McGuire stopped by Oceanside to check on Wazzu commit Cedric Bigge-Duren today.WSU coaches had an in-home visit with four-star USC commit Taeon Mason yesterday.
January 21 notes...
WSU coaches, including Mike Leach, visited three-star running back commit James Williams last night.Several WSU coaches will visit three-star receiver Lavan Alston for an in-home visit tonight.Coach Wilson stopped by Chaparral HS today to see three-star cornerback commit Darrien Molton.Coach Salave'a is visiting Logan Tago and Amosa Sakaria in American Samoa this week.Coach Grinch is visiting four-star defensive tackle commit Thomas Toki tonight.
January 22 notes...
Coach Leach and Coach Yost will visit Utah receiver commit George Wilson tonight.Coach Mastro and Coach McGuire visited offensive guard commit Noah Myers last night.Coach Mastro and Coach Mele visited kicker commit Matthew Abramo tonight.Week 3 —— January 26 – February 1

January 21 notes...Coach Leach, Wilson, Grinch and Manning will visit three-star cornerback commit Darrien Molton on January 26.
January 22 notes...
Coach Leach and the rest of the staff will visit offensive guard commit Noah Myers next Wednesday (Jan. 28).
January 26 notes...
Coach Leach and Salave'a will visit defensive tackle commit Thomas Toki on Wednesday (Jan. 28).Coach Leach, Manning, Wilson and Salave'a will visit linebacker commit Jonah Moi on Tuesday (Jan. 27).
January 27 notes...
Coach Leach, Wilson and Grinch visited cornerback commit Treshon Broughton tonight.


This post was edited on 1/27 8:31 PM by Britton Ransford

Kevin Steele, Alabama LB coach, and near our former coach in "worst BCS head coach ever" rankings. If I were an LSU fan, meh.

I just read that the Arizona Cardinals DC is on the verge of signing with the NY Jets as their HC. If this is the case it would leave the Cardinals looking for a new DC. How would this affect Pendergast's interest in the Wazzu job? Would he apply for the DC job in Arizona? Is he even interested? Arizona already fired him once from that position so would they be interested in him? Both parties would be "returning to the scene of the crime", so to speak. Lots of twists, turns, permutations and combinations in this project aren't there?

Going online everyday and looking here and elsewhere for some news about this search is frustrating and annoying, as I am sure it is with everyone else. I feel like a little kid again before Christmas. There is a big box under the tree which I cannot open until Santa comes. Reading the threads is like shaking the box. Is it something hard, soft, heavy, light or is it just empty? Like Christmas, I/we just have to wait for Santa's arrival. Unlike Christmas this particular holiday's date is not set and seems to be getting pushed further out as we wait patiently, thus adding to the anxiety of all. Just hope our present is not the football equivalent of socks.

Just shows you have to show up every night.

Four verbal commitments in the Washington State 2015 class were named to All-CIF Southern Section teams on Tuesday, the CIF Southern Section organization announced.

Four-star quarterback Tyler Hilinski out of Upland (Calif.) was a West Valley Division selection, three-star defensive tackle Dillon Faamatau of Norwalk (Calif.) was a Southeast Division selection, three-star defensive end Hunter Mattox was a Mid Valley Division selection and three-star wide receiver Kyle Sweet was named a Pac-5 Division selection.

Link: http://www.cifss.org/manage/images/otherupload/2014%20FOOTBALL%20ALL%20CIF.pdf

It appears Washington State wants to take another cornerback as there's uncertainty surrounding Daquawn Brown and Kevin Griffin transferred to Cal Poly, leaving an open slot at cornerback for the time being.

The Washington State staff extended an offer to Dallas (TX) Kimball cornerback Antoine Stephens last week, however the fast-rising senior says he's going to make a college decision on Thursday between Oklahoma, Texas Tech and Baylor. While he had a visit set up to the Palouse, this isn't much of a surprise. I would be very surprised if the Sooners aren't the pick.

Stephens is actually headed to Oklahoma this weekend for an official visit, which just so happens to be the same weekend Lawton (Okla.) cornerback Darreyl Patterson officially visits. Now, I don't know if the Sooners are looking to add two cornerbacks in their current class, in which case this would all be irrelevant. However, in the event Stephens does choose Oklahoma shortly before both prospects visit Norman, it could leave the door open for Washington State with Patterson.

Marcus Lewis would be the top target at cornerback on the Cougars' wish list, however it appears Kentucky is the leader right now with a Miami visit set up for this weekend. He should be making his decision prior to signing day. After Lewis, the Cougars are looking at Willie Sykes, Cameron Haney, Tyler Horton and possibly Oregon State commit Shawn Wilson.

Sykes, who picked up a big offer from Nebraska last night, will officially visit this weekend and is also seriously considering Purdue. Horton, a three-star from Fresno (Calif.) Edison, says he'll officially visit on Jan. 23 with Boise State and EWU also in the picture there. Haney actually visited in mid-September and it's been pretty quiet on that front - I'll reach out to see how his recruitment is going. Wilson is another Oregon State commit that Washington State has offered and he's also had a quiet recruitment. I've sent out a couple messages to Wilson without hearing back.

All in all, Washington State has some options at cornerback still, however there's no slam dunks in the bunch. I'd say Mason would be the most likely out of that group to land at Washington State.




This post was edited on 1/13 11:53 PM by Britton Ransford

Norwalk (Calif.) defensive tackle Dillon Faamatau will officially visit Arizona State on January 23. The 6-foot-4, 280-pound defensive lineman committed to Washington State about a month ago, though he said he was going to take official visits to ASU and Utah shortly after his commitment. I'm working to figure out which weekend, if any, he'll visit Utah.

According to a source, Redlands (Calif.) East Valley offensive tackle Joseph Price will officially visit Washington State this weekend. The 6-foot-5, 290-pound offensive tackle also holds a known offer from California, however his primary recruiter, Zach Yenser, left to take a job at Kansas. Price is rated three-stars by Rivals.

This post was edited on 1/13 11:53 PM by Britton Ransford

I forgot to post this over the weekend, but Washington State coach Mike Leach was on 99.1 ESPN Souix Falls with Jeff Thurn and shared some thoughts on the offseason, the upcoming recruiting push, the Oregon Ducks, Mike Riley's move to Nebraska and some thoughts on his two books.

Link: http://espn991.com/mike-leach-on-overtime-discusses-washington-state-football/

Transcript

(How are you doing, Mike?) "I'm doing pretty good. We've had a good break, excited to get back to the offseason. It's getting ready to be nearly hand-to-hand combat out there recruiting. The book that I published awhile back Geronimo is coming out on paperback, so we're excited about that. We're looking forward to a great recruiting season and offseason."

(Looking ahead to 2015, how do you improve your record from 2014?)[/B] "I mean, we did a lot of good things. We're a team of freshman and sophomores, so I think we've got to get older and then also we've got some redshirts that I think are going to have an impact that by about the middle of the season, were better than some of the starters but they were already halfway through redshirting, so we didn't pull them off. I think we'll be better from that standpoint. Basically, we were on of the most explosive offenses in the country and we're a team that could play anybody into the fourth quarter and then at some point we're running out of gas or something. I think we'll be improved. We have nearly everybody coming back. There's three guys on defense and four guys on offense, but other than that everyone is back."

(On the Pac-12 Conference…)[/B] "I think it's on a real upswing now. I think it's the best conference in the country right now. I think top-to-bottom the Pac-12 is the best conference in the country and we might have the best team in the country. We're about to find out when Oregon plays Ohio State, which has kind of been another example of our team. As young a team we were, I felt like we should have beat Oregon. It came down to the last drive and it was one of those things where we beat them everywhere but on the scoreboard, which I thought was impressive for a group as young as we had."

(As a coach, do you want the Pac-12 to win the national championship? Does that help you at Washington State?)[/B] "I think it's a little of both. I think there's always a familiarity with your own conference. You've watched a lot more film of your conference; you're more familiar with your conference. I mean, there's no way around it, you know your conference better than the other conferences. And then also you appreciate the difficulties of playing the teams in your conference, but with that said, I don't think it's across the board, but I think there's some of that. Then I think with fans, they'll start rooting for a certain team and then a lot of times it's just flat out rooting for the conference."

(On whether Mike Riley will be successful at Nebraska…)[/B] "Well, I think Mike Riley, unless there's a spot I don't know about, has been successful wherever he's been. I mean, every team that Mike Riley has been involved with has been better for having Mike Riley involved with them. So I think Nebraska will be happy with Mike Riley."

(Will it be tough for him to rebuild a program with such tradition?)[/B] "I don't really see it that way. I think that tradition may go dormant for brief periods of time, but Nebraska has one of the greatest traditions in the country, I'd hope that it's a difficult tradition to rebuild. Sometimes they go dormant or something like that, but they still have that foundation of support and virtually everybody will talk to Nebraska with regard to recruiting. You consider their spring game and how many people go to their spring game; how they sellout most of their games. No, I don't see building Nebraska - I mean, it may take a little time, but I don't see it as much of an uphill battle. There's really only maybe two other teams in the entire Big-10 - 2 to 3 other teams in the entire Big 10 - that even deserve to be mentioned in the same breath as Nebraska."

(On slowing down Oregon's offense and whether WSU's tempo helps prepare for an up-tempo team…)[/B] "It might. I think the biggest thing, though, is just make choices on defense how you're going to defend it and be able to line up and execute it quickly. What Oregon's thing is 'we're not going to run very many things, but the limit of things we run, we're going to execute, run it so quickly and so precisely, you're going to have trouble stopping us.' So there's not a lot of variety to it, it's just real quick. Then I think that the one thing that people sometimes are afraid to do that played in Oregon's hands is because of the quickness the operate, they're afraid to put pressure on the quarterback. I think it's important to have a way to put pressure on the Oregon quarterback."

(What was more challenging: writing [/B]Swing Your Sword[/I] or [/B]Geronimo[/I]?)[/B] "Well, I think, in some ways, Swing Your Sword[/I] was. Swing Your Sword[/I] was tougher because I was kind of the entire source for most of it. In other words, I was the vast majority of the research and the stuff that had to do with my life. The stuff that had to do with Tech not paying me, that was on the court record. Being the only source, well you have your memories, your insights and your point of view, so then there's a point where you need to crystalize it, polish it and get it one paper. With Geronimo[/I], there's a lot of material already out there. Geronimo[/I] is more going through as much material as you can get your hands on and then there making a choice what's going in the book and what our take on it in the book is. I thought that was a little more manageable because you had some stuff already in print, written down, in other words, more clearly defined sources, whereas I had to kind of polish everything in Swing Your Sword[/I]."



This post was edited on 1/13 2:39 PM by Britton Ransford

Link: https://washingtonstate.rivals.com/wire.asp

I don't say this lightly, but I can't see a team we could ever field competing with the likes of what tOSU fielded tonight. I don't know if we've ever fielded a team that could compete on that level; those kids made Oregon look like children. Completely dominated both LOS and had their way.

I will say that Pellum came out with crap for a game plan, and when it didn't work it decided to double down on stupid and run it in the second half as well. Rushing three only served to put their LB's on an island and give the OSU line a 3 yard push every down. If not for the flukey turnovers, this game would have been a definitive rout.

WSU women beating Stanford at the half 33-28!!!


Go Cougs!!!

After weeks of speculation, sophomore cornerback Daquawn Brown has been removed from the official Washington State roster. Also no longer listed is Beau Glover, who announced last week that he was walking away from football to pursue professional goals.

Jeremy Crabtree of ESPN reports on the Conference Committee Association's look into an early signing period and changes to texting, official visit, and 'bump' rules.

Link: http://espn.go.com/college-sports/recruiting/football/story/_/id/12161351/cca-committee-leaning-recommending-mid-december-early-signing-period-college-football

(via ESPN)