Washington State 2015 Class |
HOT BOARD: DEFENSE
Washington State's class is quickly filling up, but there's still room to add a few more prospects. The Cougars currently have 23 verbal commits in the 2015 class after a flurry of verbals over the last two weeks. Add in a former Clemson receiver
Ky Priester and Pasco (Wash.) Chiawana safety
Deion Singleton, who greyshirted while getting his academics in order, and the current numbers have the Cougars at 25 commitments in the 2015 class.
Now, scholarship math is tricky and it's tough to gauge how scholarships will work out, who ends up enrolling or greyshirting and how many players can be pushed to the previous class, but I'll give it a shot. Washington State cannot push any scholarships back, as they used all 25 in the last cycle. Since they want to take a few more prospects, they'll have to use some greyshirts.
I won't speculate on those players just yet. Anyway, I expect the Cougars to take a full class of 25 prospects and there's still a long way until signing day on February 4, so we'll take a look at the current class and targets below, continuing with the defense.
LINK: OFFENSIVE HOT BOARD
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DEFENSIVE LINE
EXPECTED TO SIGN: 4 | VERBAL COMMITS:
Hunter Mattox, Nnamdi Oguayo
TARGETS:
T.J. Fehoko
ANALYSIS: Washington State inked JUCO defensive end
Jeremiah Mitchell during the midyear signing period and he's a big body that will be able to come in and play immediately. With three other prospects already committed, Washington State can be picky with who they take.
Thomas Toki,
Dillon Faamatau and
Hunter Mattox round out what is already a solid group.
One prospect that the staff would make sure they had room for is
Tim Settle, the four-star tackle from Virginia. Settle officially visited two weeks ago and has since taken a trip to Louisville, who he vaulted into his top five last week. Oklahoma State, Virginia Tech and USC are also in the running for the No. 14 defensive tackle in the country. Settle would be a prospect that could immediately push for playing time, though the staff may want to get him in a little better shape should he pick WSU. The Cougars are probably a long shot, with Virginia Tech the likely favorite as of now. He'll decide on January 2.
Tuli Wily-Matagi,
Gabe Reid,
Mufi Hunt,
T.J. Fehoko and
Simi Moala have all officially visited this year. Hunt and Reid are two prospects that the staff could take commitments from and not worry about them taking up spots in this class, as both are expected to take LDS missions after high school. Both prospects are very high on Washington State, especially Hunt.
Tuli Wily-Matagi had a great visit to Washington State, though he has a kid and due to freshman rules at Washington State, he wouldn't be able to bring the family along until after his freshman year. He still remains very interested in the program, however.
Simi Moala has been silent throughout his recruitment, though the 6-foot-7 defensive end is an exciting prospect based on his size alone. The three-star defensive end also holds offers from Miami, Illinois, Fresno State, and Utah, who he has also officially visited.
T.J. Fehoko has been committed to Colorado for a few months now but the three-star defensive lineman officially visited for the Apple Cup and according to
Thomas Toki, his cousin, there's a good chance he could wind up in Pullman. That was before the rash of commits over the last few weeks, so he's one to monitor.
Dillon Faamatau has mentioned that he still intends on visiting Utah and Arizona State, so the staff will continue to recruit this position group.
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UPDATE (12/30):
Tim Settle will make his decision on Friday at the Under Amour All-America Game and says he'll be choosing between USC, Virginia Tech and Louisville. Washington State and Oklahoma State are no longer under consideration.
UPDATE (1/5):
Tim Settle committed to Virginia Tech at the UA All-America game.
UPDATE (1/7): Hawaii defensive lineman
Tuli Wily-Matagi has flipped from Utah to Oregon State, according to Angie Machado of BeaverBlitz.com. Wily-Matagi visited Washington State in December but Washington State filled up on the defensive line shortly after. He was really high on Washington State, but paying for his family (he has a baby) to live in Pullman while staying in the dorms was going to be hard. Really good kid and nice flip by new OSU DC Kalani Sitake.
UPDATE (1/14): Four-star defensive tackle
Thomas Toki will officially visit Oklahoma State this weekend while three-star defensive tackle
Dillon Faamatau will visit Utah on January 23. Toki says he'll also visit Arizona State and Oregon State.
UPDATE (1/17): I can confirm that
Thomas Toki did not end up taking his official visit to Oklahoma State following an in-home visit with Coach Salave'a last night.
UPDATE (1/21): Salt Lake City (UT) Cottonwood defensive end
T.J. Fehoko has de-committed from Colorado and has high interest in Washington State. This will definitely be a recruitment to watch. He's also looking at UNLV and Texas.
UPDATE (1/26): According to multiple sources, Washington State commit
Dillon Faamatau will flip to ASU tonight.
UPDATE (1/26): It's official,
Dillon Faamatau has flipped his commitment from Washington State to Arizona State. Right off the bat,
T.J. Fehoko's name jumps out as a potential filler on the defensive line, however he's a defensive end, not a defensive tackle.
There's no current defensive tackles on the Washington State radar. Maybe they could make a final run at
Olive Sagapolu, however he's re-confirmed his commitment to Wisconsin recently. Could they look to the JUCO ranks? Maybe, but it could be a little late. It'll be interesting to watch where this goes, if they go anywhere on the defensive line, that is.
UPDATE (1/27): I added Sacramento (Calif.) Grant defensive end
Carl Granderson to the hot board. He's officially visiting this weekend, though he does not hold an offer.
UPDATE (1/30): I added
Nnamdi Oguayo, an outside linebacker and defensive end from Maryland, to the hot board today. He'll take an official visit to Washington State this weekend and has the Cougars on top.
UPDATE (1/30): I removed
Gabe Reid from the hot board, as he has eliminated Washington State from his favorites.
UPDATE (2/2): Beltsville (Md.) High Point defensive end
Nnamdi Oguayo committed to Washington State today.
UPDATE (2/2): Murray (UT) Taylorsville defensive end
Mufi Hunt will make his college decision at 10 a.m. on NSD. He'll be picking between Washington State, Utah State, BYU, Michigan State and Oregon State.
UPDATE (2/4): Carl Granderson will sign with Wyoming and Simi Moala will sign with Oregon State, I'm told. I have removed them from the hot board.
LINEBACKER
EXPECTED TO SIGN: 5 | VERBAL COMMITS:
Aaron Porter
TARGETS: N/A
ANALYSIS: Prior to three weeks ago, Washington State was extremely thin at the linebacker spot in this class, however after landing
Moi,
Rudinski,
Tago and
Tezino over the last couple weeks, they've filled up at the spot.
Tezino is the prized prospect in this group, but
Tago is a highly touted outside linebacker from American Samoa and Rudinski is an playmaker from the inside.
Moi and
Porter, both JUCO prospects, will likely be able to come in and immediately push for playing time. They'll sign in February and arrive on campus in June with the rest of the class.
One prospect I think the staff would still like to land is
Leiato, the Internet sensation that has since picked up offers from UCLA and Oklahoma, among others. The Tacoma (Wash.) hard-hitter is tentatively scheduled to officially visit in January and will also take a trip to UCLA. Leiato claims no favorites and is still gathering information as his recruitment suddenly blew up.
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UPDATE (12/30): Three-star linebacker commit
Jonah Moi picked up an offer from Oregon State recently and the JUCO prospect says he's considering a visit to Corvallis. No official date has been set. He remains firmly committed to WSU.
UPDATE (12/30):
Jonah Moi picked up an offer from Ole Miss yesterday.
UPDATE (12/30): According to Rivals' Blair Angulo,
Tezino arrived at the Semper Fi Bowl sporting a Washington State beanie. He'll officially visit San Diego State on January 23, but says he's 100 percent committed to Wazzu. Oregon State, UNLV and Colorado are also looking at the four-star, though he's unsure whether he'll take trips out there.
UPDATE (1/5):
Logan Tago has been selected to play in this weekend's Polynesian All-American Bowl.
UPDATE (1/13): Ole Miss is still pursuing linebacker
Kyahva Tezino, however no offer has been put on the table as of now. A visit could still happen, though I've heard that an offer would have to be extended first.
UPDATE (1/13): Even with Washington State basically full at linebacker, I'm hearing they'll find room for
Fotu Leiato. He'll officially visit this weekend and it will be the second visit to the Palouse in about 45 days. They have a good shot here.
UPDATE (1/14): Three-star JUCO linebacker
Jonah Moi picked up an offer from TCU tonight. Moi has picked up offers from Oregon State and Ole Miss over the last few weeks, as well. He'll take an official visit to Indiana this weekend.
UPDATE (1/15): A JUCO source tells me that
Jonah Moi, who was previously scheduled to visit Indiana this weekend, will now visit TCU.
UPDATE (1/17): I can confirm that
Jonah Moi did not take an official visit to TCU this weekend following an in-home visit.
UPDATE (1/20): Three-star linebacker commit
Jonah Moi will take an official visit to TCU this weekend, a source says.
UPDATE (1/25): Three-star linebacker
Fotu Leiato has committed to Oregon. WSU was scheduled to have an in-home tonight.
UPDATE (2/2): Four-star linebacker
Kyahva Tezino has de-committed from Washington State.
UPDATE (2/4): Three-star linebacker Jonah Moi has de-committed from Washington State and flipped to Oregon, he says.
CORNERBACK
EXPECTED TO SIGN: 2-3 | VERBAL COMMITS:
Taeon Mason
TARGETS: N/A
ANALYSIS: Washington State is already young at cornerback and they have a nice pair of commits in
Molton and
Broughton, who is expected to arrive on campus and contribute immediately. While the staff could get away with taking just two in this class, especially with
Jeff Farrar as a late addition last year, they'd ideally like to land one more cornerback.
The prime and obvious targets are
Marcus Lewis and
Scrappy Norman, both Rivals100 prospects who are high on Washington State. From my point of view, Washington State has a better chance to land Norman than Lewis who, according to Rivals analyst Mike Farrell, has Kentucky on top following an official visit to Lexington last weekend. Miami is also in the picture for Lewis and is a strong bet to land his services, as well.
As for Norman, Washington State and Arizona State appear to be the frontrunners for the four-star, who could play both ways. Norman is good friends with Washington State commits
Tyler Hilinski and
Kameron Powell, whom he officially visited with, so WSU has that in their favor. If I was a betting man, I'd say the Cougars have a better shot at landing Norman than Lewis.
Austin Joyner announced that he would be making his college decision on January 4 at the Semper Fi All-American game. That doesn't bode well for Washington State, who was scheduled to receive an official visit from their former four-star commit on January 23. The in-state target has visited Boise State and Washington over the last two weeks and was reportedly waiting for Washington State to hire a defensive coordinator before making a decision. That no longer appears to be the case from the outside looking in. Washington looks to be the favorite as of now.
Tyler Horton is another backup plan for the Cougars and he'll officially visit in January. Boise State is also in the picture for Horton.
Dakari Monroe was high on the Cougars early in the season, though he never officially visited and I haven't been in touch with him. While I know he was looking at the program, the staff may have cooled on him.
Willie Sykes, from Spring, Texas, is another prospect the staff is hard after, having held an in-home visit recently. No plans to visit have been set up.
One prospect the staff has not cooled on is
Cameron Haney, who appeared to be close to a commitment early in the recruiting cycle but has since officially visited a number of schools, including Nevada and Wyoming. Arizona State and Washington visits could also be in the works, but Haney has a good relationship with area recruiter Dennis Simmons and has been high on the Cougars since they offered many months ago.
Taeon Mason is the only committed cornerback the Washington State staff is after. The four-star USC commit officially visited a couple weeks ago and has since said that the WSU visit has given him something to think about, though he hasn't wavered in his commitment to the Trojans. He has yet to visit USC, which should come next month, but the Cougars still have a chance to flip the highly-touted cornerback, who is good friends with Washington State target receiver
Desean Holmes and verbal commit
Deontay Burnett.
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UPDATE (12/19): As previously reported here, Washington State has not "moved on" from
Austin Joyner, however there's a sense that he's leaning in a different direction. While the Cougars would likely take a commitment from Joyner, Lewis or Norman, they're full for the time being.
UPDATE (12/30): Four-star cornerback
Marcus Lewis has Kentucky out front with Washington State running second, he says. Lewis will officially visit Miami, who is running third for the top prospect, in January.
UPDATE (12/30):
Scrappy Norman will make his college decision on Saturday at the Army All-American game. He'll be choosing between Washington State, Arizona State and Louisville. I've heard that the Cougars and Arizona State are the leaders for the four-star.
UPDATE (1/5):
Scrappy Norman committed to Arizona State over Washington State at the Army All-American Game.
UPDATE (1/5): Austin Joyner committed to Washington over Washington State and Boise State at the Semper Fi Bowl.
UPDATE (1/5): Washington State extended an offer to Dallas (TX) Kimball cornerback
Antoine Stephens this morning. The three-star prospect also holds offers from Oklahoma, Texas Tech and SMU. We'll see if Washington State can get him in for a visit prior to signing day. It's also apparent that the Cougars will now likely try to take an additional defensive back in this class.
UPDATE (1/7): Spring (TX) cornerback
Willie Sykes tells me he'll officially visit Washington State on 1/16. New cornerback offer
Antoine Stephens informed me he picked up an offer from Baylor tonight. The plan, as of now, is for Stephens to still visit on 1/30.
UPDATE (1/8): Lawton (OK) cornerback
Darreyl Patterson tells me he'll officially visit Washington State on January 30. The three-star will also officially visit Oklahoma on 1/16 and Kansas State on 1/23.
UPDATE (1/8): San Jose (Calif.) Archbishop Mitty cornerback
Dakari Monroe committed to San Jose State tonight. The coaching staff was after him this summer but they moved on awhile ago.
UPDATE (1/13): I removed
Antoine Stephens from the big board as he announced today that he would be making his college decision this Thursday between Oklahoma, Texas Tech and Baylor. It doesn't sound like he'll still visit.
UPDATE (1/13): I removed
Cameron Haney from the big board today. Sounds like Washington State is looking for cornerback help elsewhere. He's down to Fresno State and Wyoming.
UPDATE (1/14): I removed
Tyler Horton from the big board today. He's no longer visiting this weekend.
UPDATE (1/19): Two-star cornerback
Willie Sykes has committed to Washington State, per a source.
UPDATE (1/23): I removed
Darreyl Patterson from the big board today. He's no longer visiting next weekend.
UPDATE (1/25): Four-star cornerback
Taeon Mason has committed to Washington State, he tells WazzuWatch.com.
UPDATE (1/27): According to Rivals analyst Adam Friedman, Washington State is no longer under consideration for Washington (D.C.) Gonzaga cornerback
Marcus Lewis. I have removed him from the list, as he's down to UK and Miami.
UPDATE (1/27): As expected, Spring (TX) cornerback
Willie Sykes has flipped commitments from Washington State to Nebraska.
SAFETY
EXPECTED TO SIGN: 3 | VERBAL COMMITS:
Deion Singleton (Signed)
TARGETS: N/A
ANALYSIS: With
Shalom Luani flipping to Washington State from Oregon State this week, the Cougars are set at safety.
Deion Singleton is another nice addition after figuring out his academics and
Kameron Powell is one of the top commits in this class.
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UPDATE (1/13): Notre Dame recently reached out to
Kameron Powell to get transcripts, our Notre Dame site reports. While it appears to be a backup plan for the Irish, it wouldn't be surprising to fly Powell out for a visit without an offer in hand, which at this point doesn't seem close. It'll be something to watch for, however.
This post was edited on 2/4 12:33 AM by Britton Ransford
