Washington State running backs coach Jim Mastro joined Jason Gesser and Alex Brink on the WSU Signing Day Show this morning to talk about the Cougars' 2015 class and shared some thoughts on the recruiting process, which can be ugly at times with de-commitments.
(On recruiting without a full staff and how they made up for it)
"You have to pick up the slack when you have less staff members. You have to kind of pass the torch around and recruiting is very fluid. Even though every coach has his own area, it's 'where do we have relationships?' So it kind of stuck us all over the place with coaches, high school coaches that we know, so it was a team effort this year. This class is really good. We just kind of picked and chose where we had the best relationship with coaches and tried to put them all to bed."
(What's the background story on Aaron Porter?)
"It all actually started when I was at Nevada - that's when I started recruiting him. Obviously, he was kind of out of our league there because he was recruited by everybody in the country out of high school, but during that process of the recruiting period, I went to UCLA, so then obviously I had a better shot because he was an Orange County kid. He was actually my first commitment at UCLA. I was hired at UCLA in February and he committed to me, I think, in July. So he was my first actual commit at UCLA. Obviously right after that I came here, so before signing day I tried to flip him to Washington State.
"I've actually been recruiting him for three different schools, but he stayed committed to UCLA, which I respected. He's a kid of his word, and to me, a man's word means everything. Whether you sign or not, if you shake a mans hand I respected him for that. It turned out, though, that we got him, so 800-something days later I got him up to Washington State.
"But he's an unbelievable player. There's a reason why he was so highly recruited out of high school. What I love about him is there's no Facebook, no Twitter and you can't get 10 words out of him on the phone, which I love. He's an old school guy. His dad is the defensive coordinator at the high school he played at, his mom was an All-American softball player at Long Beach, so I love the ties, love the family and I feel like I'm part of their family after recruiting him for three-and-half years now. It's been good. He's going to be a great addition for us because he can play inside, he can play outside, and so he's very versatile, so I think he will be a really good player."
(On James Williams )
"Actually, the tie to Washington State is his high school coach, Richard Broussard, who actually helped us. When we were recruiting this kid, he's a talent like I've never seen before at the running back position. He was kind of new to the process, the school was new to the process and James just felt like he wanted to get it over with. He was really comfortable with us and Richard actually helped us. He said 'that's a great place to go to school. Get out of LA.' So, he committed to us really early and stuck with us. He hurt his knee after his second game, I believe, and people say he could have gone anywhere he wanted if he didn't get hurt, but I really believe he would have stuck with us. That's the kind of kid he is, the kind of character he is.
"He's another one who talks about my word means everything - 'I shook your hand, so that's it.' He's a very dynamic player. He's 190-pounds and he can go. They said he'd be fully cleared by May, so that would put him here right on schedule. He comes from a great family and he had the Washington State tie there with Broussard."
(On whether stars mean anything in the recruiting process )
"When I was at Nevada, we had 31 players drafted from between 2007-2010, and there's 13 active in the NFL and not one of them was a three-star, including Colin Kaepernick. You have to be able to, as a coach, trust in your evaluation ability. The video doesn't lie. I don't care - and that's one thing I loved about working for Chris Ault, and Mike Leach is the same way - does the video lie or does it not lie? Do you believe in what you're seeing? To follow up on what you're asking, in the recruiting process, the first thing I want to know is a kid's character. When you shake my hand, does that mean everything? If I feel like it doesn't, then I question the character, and what that does for me is I question on 4th-and-1, can I count on this guy?
These kids that I signed this year, what I loved about all of them, was once they shook my hand, they were solid. Schools came after every one of these guys and they were gun set solid on their word, and to me, that's everything. I could not imagine letting my son go back on his word. My son works for the Arizona Diamondbacks and his dream team is the 49ers - him and Colin Kaepernick are best friends. He took a job with the Diamondbacks - a major league club - and when he took the job, three days later, the 49ers offered him a job, so I said, 'listen, did you take that job? You're not flipping.' He said, 'Dad, I would never do that.' Basically, he turned down his chance at a dream job. These parents need to be the same - I have a hard time letting I would have a hard time letting my son go back on his word. To some of these kids, it's just a game. Because of social media, some of these kids have celebrity status for a year, and they don't want it to end. I don't care about that, I just want you to be a man of your word. If you're not ready to commit, don't. If you do, though, you shake my hand and that better be it."
(On recruiting without a full staff and how they made up for it)
"You have to pick up the slack when you have less staff members. You have to kind of pass the torch around and recruiting is very fluid. Even though every coach has his own area, it's 'where do we have relationships?' So it kind of stuck us all over the place with coaches, high school coaches that we know, so it was a team effort this year. This class is really good. We just kind of picked and chose where we had the best relationship with coaches and tried to put them all to bed."
(What's the background story on Aaron Porter?)
"It all actually started when I was at Nevada - that's when I started recruiting him. Obviously, he was kind of out of our league there because he was recruited by everybody in the country out of high school, but during that process of the recruiting period, I went to UCLA, so then obviously I had a better shot because he was an Orange County kid. He was actually my first commitment at UCLA. I was hired at UCLA in February and he committed to me, I think, in July. So he was my first actual commit at UCLA. Obviously right after that I came here, so before signing day I tried to flip him to Washington State.
"I've actually been recruiting him for three different schools, but he stayed committed to UCLA, which I respected. He's a kid of his word, and to me, a man's word means everything. Whether you sign or not, if you shake a mans hand I respected him for that. It turned out, though, that we got him, so 800-something days later I got him up to Washington State.
"But he's an unbelievable player. There's a reason why he was so highly recruited out of high school. What I love about him is there's no Facebook, no Twitter and you can't get 10 words out of him on the phone, which I love. He's an old school guy. His dad is the defensive coordinator at the high school he played at, his mom was an All-American softball player at Long Beach, so I love the ties, love the family and I feel like I'm part of their family after recruiting him for three-and-half years now. It's been good. He's going to be a great addition for us because he can play inside, he can play outside, and so he's very versatile, so I think he will be a really good player."
(On James Williams )
"Actually, the tie to Washington State is his high school coach, Richard Broussard, who actually helped us. When we were recruiting this kid, he's a talent like I've never seen before at the running back position. He was kind of new to the process, the school was new to the process and James just felt like he wanted to get it over with. He was really comfortable with us and Richard actually helped us. He said 'that's a great place to go to school. Get out of LA.' So, he committed to us really early and stuck with us. He hurt his knee after his second game, I believe, and people say he could have gone anywhere he wanted if he didn't get hurt, but I really believe he would have stuck with us. That's the kind of kid he is, the kind of character he is.
"He's another one who talks about my word means everything - 'I shook your hand, so that's it.' He's a very dynamic player. He's 190-pounds and he can go. They said he'd be fully cleared by May, so that would put him here right on schedule. He comes from a great family and he had the Washington State tie there with Broussard."
(On whether stars mean anything in the recruiting process )
"When I was at Nevada, we had 31 players drafted from between 2007-2010, and there's 13 active in the NFL and not one of them was a three-star, including Colin Kaepernick. You have to be able to, as a coach, trust in your evaluation ability. The video doesn't lie. I don't care - and that's one thing I loved about working for Chris Ault, and Mike Leach is the same way - does the video lie or does it not lie? Do you believe in what you're seeing? To follow up on what you're asking, in the recruiting process, the first thing I want to know is a kid's character. When you shake my hand, does that mean everything? If I feel like it doesn't, then I question the character, and what that does for me is I question on 4th-and-1, can I count on this guy?
These kids that I signed this year, what I loved about all of them, was once they shook my hand, they were solid. Schools came after every one of these guys and they were gun set solid on their word, and to me, that's everything. I could not imagine letting my son go back on his word. My son works for the Arizona Diamondbacks and his dream team is the 49ers - him and Colin Kaepernick are best friends. He took a job with the Diamondbacks - a major league club - and when he took the job, three days later, the 49ers offered him a job, so I said, 'listen, did you take that job? You're not flipping.' He said, 'Dad, I would never do that.' Basically, he turned down his chance at a dream job. These parents need to be the same - I have a hard time letting I would have a hard time letting my son go back on his word. To some of these kids, it's just a game. Because of social media, some of these kids have celebrity status for a year, and they don't want it to end. I don't care about that, I just want you to be a man of your word. If you're not ready to commit, don't. If you do, though, you shake my hand and that better be it."
