Washington State offensive line coach Clay McGuire made an appearance on the WSU Signing Day show with Jason Gesser and Alex Brink today and talked about the Cougars' incoming offensive line class, how the recruiting cycle went and more.
(On Cedric Bigge-Duren
)
"He's was one the guys I was most excited about. He's from Oceanside High School and he had a big year. They played for a state championship, but got beat by Folsom. He's a really big guy. He came in probably a little overweight his junior year and really worked hard to improve his body from the spring and then into the summer. He got into camp and did a really good job - pass protection, had great feet and just moved really well. I think he's a guy that just really flew under the radar and we're pretty excited to have him. I think he's a big-time get for us.
(Do you see him bouncing from guard to tackle?)
"I do. I think he has the size and the length and the feet to play both. In their scheme, the like to pull a lot, so they pulled him all the time doing all of their stuff - they flipped him sides and all of that stuff. In our camp, he was by far the best pass protection guy that we had in camp this summer, and I think he has the ability to play both in and out."
(On Noah Myers
)
"Over the recruiting process he's one of the kids that I've just really grown fond of. He has an incredible work ethic and he has that kind of nastiness we're looking for - some toughness, nasty, likes to get a guy on the ground, push him a little more, put some hands in his face and all of that. He's a similar story as Cedric, you know. Really, he's worked hard and improved his body, improved his ability from his junior year. He had a really good senior year on tape. He's actually playing in an all-star game pretty soon. I see him playing center for us. It's one of those things that we usually - he's probably going to be the biggest center that we've ever had in this offense, which I'm excited about. He's already snapping
he sends me videos of his workouts back home and all of that. I'm excited about him being here. I think we're going to have a really big, athletic mauler on the insider there and I think he's going to give us some versatility on the inside. He'll help us a lot in the run game, too."
(On Myers' and the other guys' punch on the inside
)
"The more space you have to step and make throws, the more accurate you guys are going to be. The times that Connor had some nice pockets to move around and be comfortable last year, he was incredibly accurate. The times that I said you can't set your feet the right way, or you have to move a little bit, your timing is off, it affects the quarterbacks accuracy. I think it's going to be big to have a big center in the middle that can move and knock people around and give that middle gaps."
(On Cal coming in late for Myers
)
"It was awesome. His mom has strong ties to Cal, his sister goes to Cal and they live right there in their back yard and here at the last minute [Cal came in]. You know, they came up here in the summer and had a great visit. He committed shortly after the unofficial and then came back up for the Oregon game. Then he came back for the Apple Cup, as well. He said every time he came back up here, he reassured himself this is where he wanted to be. Like I said, you guys went to school here and everybody else that went to school here realizes that once you get here it's the greatest place in the world to go to school. He's a Coug, that's the way he feels. He couldn't be more excited to get here. Cal came in last minute and it didn't matter. Even with all the ties to the school - once you're a Coug, you're a Coug, right?"
(On Davis Perrott
)
"He was a defensive lineman his whole career. He went to a really good high school there, a strong high school in Arizona. This year, they moved him to the offensive line and really had a great year. He's really athletic; he's just mowing people down in the front in a run-oriented offense. When you watch him get out and pull, he's really quick, really athletic, and one thing, too, he really was nasty. When you watch his tape and just get to know him and his personality, if gauges somebody's eye, he probably isn't going to feel bad about it."
(On the nastiness they're looking for
)
"Yeah, I mean that's the attitude and mentality you have to have to play that position down there."
(Do you have a standard that you follow in the evaluation process?)
"At the end of the day, the tape don't lie - the tape always speaks for itself. If a guy is a great player, he's a great player regardless of his size. A couple years ago, we had Elliot Bosch starting for us for two years and was a great player for us. Bosch is probably 6-1, 265. When we start the process, we look for the tall, long arm, athletic guys. That's kind of the criteria - flexible length. You can be 6-3 or 6-4, but if he has long arms, he has a chance, especially with what we do. With all these guys, you'll see that they're just long - Cedric, Davis, Noah. Noah is probably the shortest one, but he's deceiving how tall he is. He's a legit 6-5, but his arms are really long and they hang down pretty low. Athleticism; they have to be able to move. We put them in a lot of space, we put them in some positions that are tough because they don't have a lot of guys next to them, so they have to be able to move their feet in space and like I said, arm length is really big for us."
(On the these guys playing as redshirt freshman
)
"I do. It's a class that really rivals two years ago with Cody O'Connell, Cole Madison, Riley Sorenson, Carlos Freeman and those guys. I really feel there will be 2, 3 or 4 guys out of this class starting as redshirt freshman kind of like Cole did and Riley did a little bit. It's a really strong class offensive line-wise. I'm really excited about it. As soon as we get them here, I'm excited to see what they do because the thing I'm probably most proud about in this class, and the thing a lot of people probably don't realize about this class this year, is that there's four in right now and there will be another one in here soon (Sakaria), but the four that have signed already, they're all winners. I said Oceanside; they played for a state championship and had an unbelievable year. Joseph Price is from Redlands and they won a state championship. As I said, Noah Myers had a great year at Walnut Creek, it was one of the best years they had at that school. Davis Perrott played for a state championship in Arizona, so we have a lot of winners in here and the mentality and attitude is right."
(On most prospects coming in from winning programs
)
"At the end of the day, this is the ultimate team game. You don't win championships based on stars and individual performances. It's a team effort out there. Like I said, the culture is here. These kids know what's its like to win games, they've played in the playoffs, win championships and that's what we're here to do. We expect to win championships here. We don't want to win bowl games, we expect to go out and win Pac-12 Championships and bring that back here to bring back that tradition that you guys had when you were playing here. It's one of those things that I feel we're right there on the cusp of doing. This class is very key and I'm excited about these guys. This is the first time that we, for our program and what we're looking for number-wise, will have the numbers where we want it."
(Where are you at numbers-wise on the offensive line?)
"I think, if it goes like it should, we should have about 20 scholarship guys - 19 or 20 scholarship guys. I can't remember the exact number, but 18 to 20 for us, because we're offensive line heavy, because Coach really believes building around that position, having that competition there. It's a quarterback driven offense, but as you guys know, if you can't stand up, you can't throw it very well, so those guys have to be able to play. We have all five guys coming back and we have these guys coming in just to make us stronger and there's a good chance some of these guys will have a chance to come in and compete. Even if they don't get a starting job, they've have a chance to compete for something else, but we're here to win and that's what these guys are coming in to do. We're excited about that. This is the first time we've had those numbers. I know at one point last year in camp, we were down to nine scholarship guys and all of a sudden you're wearing your starters down pretty good in two-a-days, so this year will be nice because we'll have a two-deep and guys we're working, then a two-deep of young guys getting ready for the other guys over there. It'll be good to have the numbers."
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