Riverside (Calif.) C.C. receiver Isaac Whitney visited West Virginia last week, one week after taking an official visit to USC. He was previously planning on visiting Washington State several times, but the 6-foot-4, 195-pound outside receiver never did trip to the Palouse.

However, Whitney tells Rivals.com's Blair Angulo following his visit to Morgantown that the Cougars are still in his final three despite not visiting. I don't expect Whitney to land at Washington State, though he gave Angulo a few quotes on his WSU interest.

"I wold go to West Virginia because of the situation there," he said. "Kevin White is leaving and playing time would be available. That would be wide open. It's kind of the same thing with Washington State. They throw the ball so much that it means a lot of touches and yards for receivers like me. Playing in coach [Mike] Leach's system would be idea.

"And with USC, it would probably be a good fit for me because I have family in L.A. and I have a good relationship with coach [Tee] Martin."


Prior to his visit to West Virginia, USC appeared to be the favorite to land Whitney, who called the Trojans his dream school. West Virginia, though, looks like they have made up some ground for the three-star receiver. The Cougars are an obvious darkhorse, though having a couple teammates committed up there and familiarity with the program could make the Cougars a surprise pick.

He'll announce on Thursday. Here's the story: https://washingtonstate.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1715594

USA Today Sports has compiled a ranking of college football assistant coach salaries. Washington State's Mike Breske was the Cougars' highest paid assistant, making $376,500 this season, which ranks No. 128 among all assistant coach salaries.

Here's a look at how each Washington State coach salary stacks up against their peers:

-Defensive coordinator Mike Breske - $376,500 (No. 128)
-Defensive line coach Joe Salave'a - $275,000 (No. 254)
-Special teams coordinator Eric Russell - $251,000 (No. 299)
-Inside receivers coach David Yost - $241,500 (No. 330)
-Running backs coach Jim Mastro - $226,500 (No. 359)
-Outside receivers coach Dennis Simmons - $226,500 (No. 360)
-Offensive line coach Clay McGuire - $226,500 (No. 361)
-Inside linebackers coach Ken Wilson - $216,500 (No. 395)
-Outside linebackers coach Paul Volero - $181,500 (No. 491)
-Offensive quality control/ST coach Eric Mele - $85,000 (No. 821)

Washington State's total staff pay, per the numbers above, was $2,309,124 when including other pay and max bonuses, in addition to total school pay. The $2.3 million ranks No. 43 among all schools, according to the USA Today Sports survey.

Other Pac-12 schools' assistant pay: Oregon ($3.27M), Washington ($3.25M), UCLA ($3.18M), Arizona State ($3.11M), Colorado ($2.59M), Arizona ($2.49M), Utah ($2.42M), Oregon State ($2.39M), California ($2.08M), Stanford (N/A), USC (N/A).

Link: http://sports.usatoday.com/ncaa/salaries/football/assistant

Jeff Riger of 971 The Ticket in Detroit says on Twitter he's hearing that Utah head coach Kyle Whittingham has been in Ann Arbor, Mich., this week meeting with U-M officials about their head coaching vacancy.

Link: https://twitter.com/riger1984/status/543146732884721664

this seems a little petty, but how is it that I have less months of membership than I did a year ago? I've been a member without break from 9/2001. It should read 156 months.

Manassas (Va.) Stonewall Jackson defensive tackle Tim Settle announced a top five of Louisville, Virginia Tech, Washington State, USC and Oklahoma State tonight.

The four star, rated the No. 14 defensive tackle in the country, has now officially visited all five schools after tripping to Louisville last weekend and will make his college decision at the Under Armour All-America Game on January 2. Virginia Tech is thought to lead for Settle, though he is no longer doing interviews so that would just be speculation on my part.

According to his Twitter account, former Washington State running back Squally Canada will transfer to BYU.

Phoenix (Ariz.) Mountain Pointe offensive tackle Davis Perrott tells WazzuWatch.com that he has committed to Washington State. The 6-foot-5, 270-pound offensive lineman is rated three-star by Rivals and picked the Cougars over offers from Boise State, California, Indiana, Purdue, Colorado State, Nevada, New Mexico, San Diego State, UNLV, Wyoming and others.

Perrott officially visited Washington State for the Apple Cup and recently got back from an official visit to Indiana. Boise State and California were also in his top four. We're going to have more from Perrott shortly (unless my power goes out).

Link: http://sports.yahoo.com/ncaa/football/recruiting/player-Davis-Perrott-167385


This post was edited on 12/13 9:32 PM by Britton Ransford

At the EWU game against ISU, very scary for his family. Hope everything is alright for him, that's awful.

Jake Rodgers Dad

According to Brand X ,Hunter Mattox a 6'4 260 DE has committed. He is a former OSU commit

Chatsworth (Calif.) Sierra Canyon defensive end Hunter Mattox has committed to Washington State, WazzuWatch.com has confirmed. The 6-foot-4, 255-pound strongside defensive end was previously committed to Oregon State prior to the Beavers' coaching change.

In addition to Oregon State and Washington State, the three-star held an offer from Fresno State. The Cougars offered Mattox earlier this week and Jim Mastro, Mattox's primary recruiter, had an in-home visit with the Cougars' newest verbal commit on Wednesday. We'll have more from Mattox following his official visit.

Highlights: http://www.hudl.com/athlete/1697947/highlights/213800377


This post was edited on 12/13 5:00 PM by Britton Ransford

WSU would have added 11 offensive linemen to the roster over the last two recruiting cycles. This assumes 2013 signee Nick Begg is an o-lineman, of course, and it includes Matt Meyer, another 2013 signee who never enrolled supposedly due to an illness (he's now at EWU). I have a hunch WSU will sign a couple more for this current class. Development in the trenches is a key to success, so it appears we're heading in the right direction (and, therefore, continue wiping away a glaring deficiency from the past).

Off season "stuff". Sister perspective on our QB.

WSU's Falk family

So I was reading this morning about JF's handler/best friend. He said he conservatively estimates JF could've made $2.3M if he'd accepted gifts, jobs, etc while at A&M. He thinks it could've been $8M to $10M if JF actually had an agent and the NCAA allowed athletes to make money. He says $8M to $10M because corporations like McDonald's or Nike could then become involved.

I see this happening down the road. The NCAA has painted themselves into a corner once again by running commercials saying 99% of all athletes go pro in something other then sports. So why are you limiting their highest earning years????

What will happen in major college football when athletes can take the money? Movie roles, spokesman jobs, appearances, shoe deals.... Will schools with the talent be the focus? Will players from small markets get noticed?

It isn't just male sports either. Do you know how much money is in make up, clothing, lotions, potions and crap marketed towards women and young girls? What happens when Maybelline or Revlon shows up and offers $5M for an ad campaign to your best women's volleyball players?

What happens when WSU's best football player also has a 3.8 gpa in IT??? Does Paul Allen show up and offer him an opportunity?

What happens when your star player takes down $8M and your coach makes $3M????

Here's the postgame notes, courtesy WSU Athletics, from Washington State's 81-66 loss to Gonzaga tonight.

WSU postgame notes...

-Sophomore Josh Hawkinson led WSU with 18 points and 11 rebounds, recording his fourth double-double of the season and of his career. His 11 rebounds mark his most since grabbing 13 against UCSB on Nov. 27 at the Great Alaska Shootout. He also made a career-high 2 3-pointers and finished 2-of-3 from 3-point range.

-Sophomroe Ike Ireogbu tied his season high with 14 points, marking his fourth-straight game with at least 13 points. He had 2 3-pointers, which was just the third time in his career that he's had multiple 3-pointers in back-to-back games. Iroegbu led WSU in scoring at Gonzaga last season with a career-high 20 points.

-Senior DaVonte Lacy finished with 14 points, marking his fifth-straight game in double figure scoring. Lacy did not hit a 3-pointers for the first time this season and the first time since playing just 11 minutes at Arizona State on Jan. 5, 2014, before leaving the game with a rib injury. He also didn't have a 3-pointer last season against UTEP on Dec. 21, 2013.

-The Cougars shot .521 from the field (25-for-48), notching its second-highest shooting performance of the season. It's the second straight game of shooting at least .520 from the field.

-The Cougars also shot .500 (6-for-12) from 3-point range, which is their second-highest 3-point field goal percentage of the season and second-straight game shooting at least .500 or better from 3-point range.

-Next up for the Cougars is a trip to Santa Clara, Calif., to take on Santa Clara, Saturday, Dec. 13 at 7 p.m. This is the game that replaces the Cougars' previously scheduled Seattle game against Hawaii.

Box score...

The Pac-12 released the 2015 conference football schedule on Tuesday evening and Washington State's schedule is surprisingly good. The Apple Cup will once again be played on a Friday after playing on a Saturday this season. They'll miss USC and Utah next season and play four of their last five games in the state of Washington.

The season will begin on Sept. 5 at home against Portland State before heading on the road to face Rutgers. They'll finish up nonconference play at home against Wyoming. Their only bye week will be after playing Wyoming on Sept. 19 before they open up Pac-12 play on the road against California. The following week the Cougars travel to Eugene to take on Oregon, marking the only time they'll play back-to-back road games.

Homecoming will be the Cougars' Pac-12 home-opener set for October 17 against Oregon State and after heading on the road to play Arizona the following week, the Cougars will return home to face Stanford on Halloween. It will be the second time in three years the Cougars will play on Halloween in Pullman.

WSU gets another home game following Stanford against Arizona State on Nov. 7 before traveling to UCLA and facing the Bruins for the first time since Leach's first year as head coach. The Cougars, after missing Colorado this year, will face the Buffaloes in Pullman with their last home game on Nov. 21 before finishing the season in Seattle for the Apple Cup.

The home schedule is at follows: vs. Portland State, vs. Wyoming, vs. Oregon State, vs. Stanford, vs. Arizona State, vs. Colorado. Here's the road schedule: at Rutgers, at Cal, at Oregon, at Arizona, at UCLA, at Washington.

Full press release in THE WIRE: https://washingtonstate.rivals.com/wire.asp

MY THOUGHTS...

After a decent nonconference slate, which includes what could be another good game against Rutgers in New Jersey and a decent home opponent in Wyoming, WSU's October gets off to an uneasy start. A road game at Cal to kick things off isn't going to be easy, as you've seen how Cal has improved already this year, even though it's early. The good thing is they'll get a bye week to get ready for that game, which should be beneficial.

Early bye weeks kind of suck, but if it's going to be early, it might as well be right before starting Pac-12 play against an improved opponent that matches up similarly to you. Then a dreadful trip to Oregon to face the Ducks, who despite losing Mariota should be well-stocked to make another push atop the Pac-12 and national rankings.

Then you get Homecoming against Oregon State, who loses Sean Mannion before making a trip to the desert to face Arizona. They had success in Tucson last year, but that's going to be another tough trip with a team that's going to be better next season with the amount of youth they currently have on defense.

They wrap up October by heading back home to face Stanford on Halloween. So, you have three road games at Cal, Oregon and Arizona with home contests against Stanford and Oregon State, culminating in a tough month against quality opponents, but here's not going to be pushover, at least looking at things right now, in Pac-12 play anyway.

Getting Stanford and Arizona State, who they'll face after the Cardinal, at home in back-to-back weeks will be nice late in the season. The second half of the season actual works out pretty well, with their only trip out of the state to UCLA, where they've had success in the past. A home tilt against Colorado and the Apple Cup on Black Friday in Seattle finishes it up.

So, it looks like there's some favorable match ups at home against Portland State, Wyoming, Oregon State, and Colorado with two tough home games against Stanford and Arizona State back-to-back. The beginning of Pac-12 play is brutal, though, with the two road games. All in all, I think the schedule looks pretty good despite a rough second month of the season.

What are your thoughts?



This post was edited on 9/16 8:19 PM by Britton Ransford

This post was edited on 9/16 8:41 PM by Britton Ransford

YAHOO! SPORTS HOLIDAY GIFTS -- [/B]Rivals.com / Yahoo! Sweepstakes
Yahoo! and Riavls.com are running a sweepstakes for subscribers and users, which begins today (12/12/14) and ends on 12/31/14. Five winners who enter will be randomly selected at the end of the promotion window. Winners will be notified via the email address they have provided us upon entering.

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To enter, users can head to the promotion page, which can be found at this link, and press the "continue" button.

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Remember, before Leach was hired, Anderson's name was bantered around this board as a potential Wulff replacement. He wasn't a real sexy prospected back then, with only one winning season at USU, but he had shined the turd of all turds. In the 20 years before he arrived, USU had only 2 winning seasons since 1988.

He is the the prototypical coach for the WSU and Oregon State's of this world, i.e. a guy who has demonstrated the ability to win with less, like Price at Weber and Erickson at Idaho, but on a larger scale.

The good news is it will take him some time at Oregon State. Riley left the cupboard bare, particularly on defense. But let's not kid ourselves, he is a very real threat to WSU and Leach. We have two years to leap frog Oregon State in terms of signing the top recruits both are eyeing, and in the win column. If we let this guy get a foothold, and they are winning in year 3, we will be in a world of hurt.

Washington State will host a few prospects this weekend, and while the list is smaller than in previous weeks, it's an important weekend for a couple prospects ahead of the recruiting dead period. I've confirmed two visitors, though there could be one more.

Official visitors

-Three-star defensive end Hunter Mattox of Chatsworth (Calif.) Sierra Canyon
-Two-star athlete Tuli Wily-Matagi of Kahuku (HI)
-Three-star offensive tackle Keven Dixon Jr. of Buena Park (Calif.)

Update (12:17 p.m.) - I spoke with James Williams today and he is not going to be visiting Washington State this weekend as previously reported here. He says he'll be taking his official visit on January 16 now. Working on confirmation for the third official visitor expected to be in town this weekend.

Update (12:32 p.m.) - Keven Dixon, who posted on Twitter this morning his visit plans, just confirmed to me that he's officially visiting Washington State this weekend.

Notes on official visitors

-Hunter Mattox has been committed to Oregon State since late June, but the three-star is looking around now that Mike Riley is in Nebraska. The 6-foot-4, 244-pound defensive end had an in-home visit with primary recruiter Jim Mastro this week and also picked up an offer from Washington State.

Mattox, who officially visited Oregon State for the Civil War, also holds an offer from Fresno State and could possibly be an early enrollee prospect.

-For the second consecutive weekend, Washington State will host a prospect from Hawaii as Tuli Wily-Matagi will officially trip this weekend. The two-star athlete, who projects as a defensive end or outside linebacker at the next level, committed to Utah in early March, however he's recently started to look at other options, including a visit to Colorado last weekend.

The 6-foot-3, 230-pounder, who played quarterback in high school, says his mother lives in Washington, though this will be his first trip to the Northwest.

-Massive offensive tackle prospect Keven Dixon Jr. will be in Pullman this weekend for an official visit, he confirmed via Twitter message. The 6-foot-6, 275-pound lineman is rated three-stars by Rivals and also holds offers from Arizona State, Colorado, Colorado State, Fresno State, Oregon State, San Diego State and Utah. This will be the second official visit for Dixon, who took a trip to Utah in late September.

This post was edited on 12/12 12:38 PM by Britton Ransford

I caught up with Rivals100 DB Marcus Lewis to talk about his top three of Kentucky, Miami and Washington State. He has no leader and will be taking an official visit to Kentucky this weekend. Lewis has rescheduled his official visit to Miami for January 16 and cancelled his Ole Miss official visit. Look for a commitment to come in early to mid January.

Article

According to his Twitter account, Washington State is the latest offer for Rohnert Park (Calif.) Rancho Cotate 2016 receiver Chris Taylor-Yamanoha. The 6-foot-1, 167-pound receiver is rated three-stars by Rivals and the No. 77 receiver in the country.

Link: https://rivals.yahoo.com/footballrecruiting/football/recruiting/player-Chris-Taylor-Yamanoha-161003

Mike Leach, Joe Salave'a, Graham Harrell and Ken Wilson visited Washington State commit Tyler Hilinski tonight.

Steilacoom (Wash.) linebacker Fotu Leiato will officially visit Washington State on Jan. 16, according to his coach. The 6-foot-1, 200-pound athlete, who had an in-home visit with four Cougar coaches this week, recently picked up an offer from San Diego State to go along with scholarship offers from Montana, Montana State, EWU, Weber State, Wyoming and Idaho.

Same college as Porter.......and I'm wondering what his deal is regarding recruiting. Great tape.

D Young

SAN FRANCISCO - [/B]Washington State baseball was selected for 17 televised games in 2015, the Pac-12 Networks announced, Thursday.

Four of the Cougars' 10 Pac-12 series will be carried in their entirety. They include home matchups against Washington (April 9-11), Oregon (May 8-10) and Stanford (May 22-24) as well as a road meeting with Arizona State (May 14-16).

"We are excited to have the opportunity to be on the Pac-12 Networks," Cougar Head Coach Donnie Marbut said. "Televised games are great exposure for our student-athletes, program and facilities."

After playing 16 nonconference games to open the season, Washington State begins Pac-12 play at USC, March 13-15 at the start of seven-game road trip. The final two games of that series will be televised, the first appearances of the season for the Cougars.

"The Big 12/Pac-12 Challenge (Feb. 19-22) might be the best tournament in the country this year," Marbut said. "Coach Price at Kansas did a great job putting it together. We will definitely be battle tested by the time we get the Pac-12 play and the televised portion of our schedule."

Washington State's series opener at Oregon State, March 20, as well as the final game of its road trip, March 22 in Corvallis will be televised. The Cougars will also play a nonconference game at Washington, April 27 on the Pac-12 Networks.

"With 17 of our last 25 games at home in Pullman another in front of our great Cougar fans in Pasco, I really like the way our schedule plays out," Marbut said. "To have 13 of those contests on Pac-12 Networks is something our fans can look forward to next season."

(via Craig Lawson of WSU Athletics)