With signing day around the corner, I figured I would answer some questions in this thread for the next few hours. Post your questions about Washington State football, basketball, recruiting and whatever else you can think of in this thread, and I'll get to them at my earliest convenience.
CHAT: Recruiting, football or hoops questions? Ask away...
- Thread starter britton ransford
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Britton, I am getting sick and tired about people complaining about lack of washington kids in this class and in general. Also you gotta like the Husky perspective and how bad of a sign it is for the coaches and program. In my mind who cares where they are from. Just really makes me crazy.
Certainly it would be nice to have some Washington kids in this class, but it's not like they weren't recruiting them. They offered double-digit guys in this class from Washington and when one or the other stopped showing interest, they moved on. Sure, they missed out on some kids in the state, but they're out-recruiting the other team in the state in Southern California, which one could argue has just a little bit more talent.
At some point, Washington State is going to want to make some inroads in the state of Washington, but they're going to need to change the perception of the program before that happens. Until then, load up with highly rated California guys. This staff is recruiting to get the best guys they can into the program, whether they're in-state or not. They aren't going to take an in-state kid to take an in-state kid. Winning recruiting battles in Washington will come.
There were six prospects on other campuses this weekend, which seems like a lot, but it's silly season. Of those commits that took visits, Riverside (Calif.) C.C. linebacker Jonah Moi, would be my choice for most likely to flip. With Oregon and TCU making a late push, the staff will have their hands full keeping this talented linebacker on board.
As for the potential impact on the class, it would be a pretty big loss considering his ability to come in and make an immediate impact. They would still have fellow JUCO linebacker Aaron Porter on board, though Moi is another massive talent at a need position. It would be a tough loss. It sounds like he really enjoyed the TCU visit last weekend and an Oregon visit could be in the works this weekend.
Manning and Grinch come to Washington State with a reputation as plus-recruiters and I think you've seen a little bit of their impact already. With the defensive guys that were already committed, I think it was big to get them in their living rooms to meet their future coaches. Manning actually heavily recruited four-star cornerback Marcus Lewis to Michigan, so that's a relationship to watch over the next week or so.
Anyway, I think Grinch and Manning will have a huge impact on the next few recruiting cycles, but their exposure to the current verbal commitments has been a big help in securing this class, as well.
This post was edited on 1/26 1:11 PM by Britton Ransford
With as much openness and candidness you can supply, tell me what you attribute our sudden upsurge in recruiting this year, to?
All of this information is updated daily on the WazzuWatch.com recruiting hot boards, which I'll link below. The hot boards have notes on every commit still in play for Washington State and a running tally of daily updates for each commit.
Link: https://washingtonstate.rivals.com/showmsg.asp?fid=1417&tid=207984712&mid=207984712&SID=1089&Style=2
(Back to the question)
Unless something unforeseen happens, Washington State isn't going to be in the running for Equanimeous St. Brown. I think that recruitment comes down to Stanford, Notre Dame and Utah. As for the other guys you mentioned, Washington State is certainly in the mix for a number of other prospects, including Sihiem King, Lavan Alston and Marcus Lewis, who you mentioned above.
Alston will officially visit Nebraska this weekend (as will Washington State target offensive tackle target Darrin Paulo) and is said to be down to Nebraska, Washington State, Oregon State, Arizona State and California. The Cougars have a shot here, but recent commitments may have him looking elsewhere, particularly Nebraska.
Lewis has gone underground and a decision could come at anytime. He's officially visited Miami, Kentucky and Washington State, which make up his top three. I think Michigan could still get involved late, but the Cougars' also have a shot here, especially with Roy Manning now getting involved with his recruitment to Washington State after previously recruiting him to Michigan. It's really a toss up, from my point of view.
King is another guy that if he can get over the distance factor, according to a source close to the situation, could very likely land at Washington State. Wake Forest is also in the picture, but don't be surprised if King ends up at Georgia Southern or Middle Tennessee State simply because of that distance factor. He canceled his West Virginia trip following the WSU visit.
Washington State could certainly wind up landing any of these guys.
From what I knew about the old staffs, I always thought position coaches mainly recruited their own positions, and maybe pointed guys out to others if the had knowledge of an area. It seems like more and more I hear about area recruiters on most staffs...is this how people mainly do it know days, or am I wrong in thinking it was more of a position-position coach thing in the past?
This post was edited on 1/26 11:28 AM by chugspig
This post was edited on 1/26 11:28 AM by chugspig
Relationships and facilities. The coaching staff has had two full cycles to develop relationships with these players and the brand new facility is getting them on campus, which has always been the struggle.
Heck, they're getting Rivals100 guys from the East Coast to fly out to Pullman, Wash., and while that has a lot to do with the staff's relentless and passionate recruiting approach, the Cougars have one of the shiniest new buildings in the country, packed with all the bells and whistles that a 17-year-old prospect is looking for.
Mike Leach has said it before, that this is the best recruiting staff that he's ever had, and that's showing now. They're young and energetic, have past success and now have this awesome new building in their back pocket, which when putting it all together, is a recipe for recruiting success.
That's a pretty bland and obvious answer, but that's the truth. The chance to play early, which they can show recruits on paper, and an exciting offense with a name coach also helps. More than anything is the facility, though - money talks.
This post was edited on 1/26 1:29 PM by Britton Ransford
I'm sure different staffs have different ways of going about it, but nowadays a coach is assigned a specific recruiting area and they'll recruit all the guys in that one area, regardless of position. For example, Ken Wilson recruits the Inland Empire. He has landed commitments from a safety, quarterback, cornerback, defensive line, linebacker and offensive line.
Early in the recruiting cycle, the area recruiter will start to build relationships with that prospect, gauging interest and doing scouting work. Once an offer is extended, typically the position coach will get in touch and start to build a little bit of a relationship as an assist to the area recruiter, but that positional relationship really begins on official visits and continues during in-home visits.
There's also times where they're looking at a kid that is very interested in an area they don't have a recruiter assigned to. Sihiem King from Georgia is an example. King showed interest, so Jim Mastro, who recruits California, began recruiting King in Georgia. Another example is Mike Leach leading the point on Marcus Lewis in Washington, D.C., so there's obviously situational cases that change how they go about recruiting a prospect, but typically a coach focuses on his area, regardless of position, then gets an assist from the position coach down the road.
This post was edited on 1/26 11:36 AM by Britton Ransford
Paulo has been tough to get ahold of during this recruiting cycle, however when I and others in the network have talked to him, he's always maintained a strong interest in Washington State. He took his official visit way back in September, but having his brother on campus keeps the familiarity alive. The other schools in the picture are Utah, USC, Oregon and Nebraska. I would be speculating if I said the Cougars were a favorite, but I do believe they'll be there to the wire.
As for the defensive lineman, I think you're talking about T.J. Fehoko, who de-committed from Colorado. I'm not too sure the staff is still after him, though I haven't talked to him. I believe he is visiting Nevada and UNLV prior to signing day. Should there be a defection, especially with ASU coming after Dillon Faamatau, I could see Washington State getting involved.
Holy smokes. I'm not sure I have enough time to run through that. If you want to ask me certain positions, I'd be happy to run through them. For what it's worth, I think Luke Falk is the leader going into spring ball but don't be shocked if Peyton Bender winds up starting week one.
Do you forsure any attrition at WR, we are getting backlogged with guys like cracraft, bartelone, marks, baker, andre, Harrington, loftus, green, Lewis. I know they can flip positions and everyone generally gets reps, but would you be surprised to see one or two guys leave?
I'm never surprised to see guys leave. There's always going to be a lot of talent at wide receiver under Mike Leach and because they rotate so many guys and throw the ball so much, I think it's still a more appealing position group than most in the country, even with 13-15 guys.
I've been so caught up with football recruiting that I haven't been able to dive into basketball recruiting, however that's on my agenda next week. With four guys signed right now, they're full in 2015, however I think they'd make room for the right guy during the late signing period - maybe a big. Sorry I don't have more on that front, but I promise to have coverage soon.
What's up with Yost and recruiting? I don't know how the recruiting is broken up, but from your realeased charts he doesn't seem to be a part of much. Seems weird to me with how widely respected he is and the guys he brought in a Missouri. It does seem he gets involved with guys later in the game for in homes, but is he relinquishing duties to the younger guys? Or am I just totally off?
He's involved and does a lot of closing and secondary stuff. He helped land a few of the guys in this current class and is still a quality recruiter for the staff. I think you'll see him land a few more guys in this next cycle, as he works closely with the 2016 class.
Are there some guys on our commits list that are sitting at 2-3 stars that you feel warrant a 4? It seems these ratings are often biased both in where the player comes from and where they commit to especially if it's early in the recruiting game? To me there are one or two worthy of an upgrade, although it's probably a good thing they don't get it in some ways. Do you see any guys like that?
There's a few guys they've offered - five-stars Jacob Eason (Georgia), Shae Patterson and Malik Henry (FSU) - but they aren't in on any of them. Justus Rogers, a quarterback out of Belleuve, has an offer, but he's likely an athlete.
Some of the names I've heard in the 2016 class include Jacob Hennie to name a few. Davidson and Costello would be the two highest rated guys.
JUCO recruiting rankings are always a mixed bag, however Jeremiah Mitchell, Shalom Luani and Jonah Moi, in my opinion, are probably deserving of four-stars. Aaron Porter is another guy that was a four-star out of high school and was one of the top junior college linebackers in the country. He's going to be a beast.
As for the prep kids, I they're all pretty close to accurate. Dahu Green is another guy that I think is close to that four-star range. A case could be made for Kameron Powell, too, but I think the prep rankings, outside Tago not being rated and Cedric Bigge-Duren at two-stars, are pretty accurate.
Re: Dylan Hanser
He has all the tools to be a difference maker on the defensive side, likely at outside linebacker or in the BUCK role. Two years down the line, if he could add 25-30 more pounds, I think he has some Travis Long potential. He'll get some playing time this year, though.
I agree, I think he can be really good, he just needs to keep adding weight. After delaying enrollment, he was still only hovering around 210, so continuing to add good weight is going to be key. He has the frame to do it. It will be very interesting to see what he weighs heading into spring ball and then how much he can add going into fall camp.
He has all the tools to be a difference maker on the defensive side, likely at outside linebacker or in the BUCK role. Two years down the line, if he could add 25-30 more pounds, I think he has some Travis Long potential. He'll get some playing time this year, though.
Will kelani Sitake down at OSU be a major competitor for big Joe on the islands? Haven't heard much about it, but those two guys seem to be the major players out of the islands. Is there enough to go around, or will we battle? So far it's looked like we have stayed out of each other's ways.
Well, Sitake has always been in the conference, so they've recruited the same kids before while he was at Utah. Oregon State, over the last few years, however, has attracted some of the top talent from the Islands, right up there with the Cougars, so it's something to watch.
They're battling right now for Logan Tago, the Washington State linebacker linebacker from Pago-Pago (A.S.) who officially visited Corvallis last weekend.
As more and more programs start to make American Samoa and Hawaii a priority recruiting ground, there's going to be competition the goes much further than Oregon State and Washington State. Coach Joe is a legend down there and I think he'll do just fine. The Cougars are lucky to have him.
This post was edited on 1/26 1:40 PM by Britton Ransford
Salave'a and Sitake? I really don't know. I would assume they have some kind of relationship given their Poly background.
Britton,
Am I crazy or do we have WAYYYY too many kickers on the roster for next year. Breshears, Concepcion, and Powell, plus Abramo and Jones committing this year... what are we going to do with 5 kickers? How many are on scholarship? Would be nice to find the next Furney I guess.
Keep up the good work, and Go Cougs!
Am I crazy or do we have WAYYYY too many kickers on the roster for next year. Breshears, Concepcion, and Powell, plus Abramo and Jones committing this year... what are we going to do with 5 kickers? How many are on scholarship? Would be nice to find the next Furney I guess.
Keep up the good work, and Go Cougs!
I still have both of them on my hot board. I do think, though, that Gabe Reid ends up at Stanford, and I'm pretty surprised that hasn't happened yet.
Mufi Hunt is a guy that Washington State is still in on and he's finishing up visits this week. He tripped to Michigan State last weekend and has a mid-week visit to Oregon State this week, I believe. There's a BYU trip left at some point, too.
Remember, both Reid and Hunt will take missions after graduating, so they'll arrive on the campus they pick in 2017.
Abramo will be the only kicker on scholarship heading into 2015, as of now. Breshears, Concepcion, Powell and Jones are walk-ons. The staff will actually have another preferred walk-on kicker on campus this weekend, Spencer Pettit of Snohomish (Wash.) Glacier Peak, so they may not be done adding kickers.
It'd be one thing if they had a bunch of kickers on scholarship, but since they only have one, it doesn't really change anything except add a bunch of competition, which that position group desperately needs.
Thanks for the questions, everyone. We'll do this again next Monday. For all the similar coverage and more throughout the week and through signing day, you can sign up for the price of a really nice coffee at the link below. I'll make it worth your penny.
(There's already been two major updates regarding Washington State recruiting since I answered the last question. Come join the fun!)
Link: https://secure.rivals.com/nssubscribe.asp?sid=1089&strk=lmastnew&plan=4&term=12&up=4:1
(There's already been two major updates regarding Washington State recruiting since I answered the last question. Come join the fun!)
Link: https://secure.rivals.com/nssubscribe.asp?sid=1089&strk=lmastnew&plan=4&term=12&up=4:1
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