Signing day
- Thread starter BiggsCoug
- Start date
Based on the Brand X list, there appears to only be two that have yet to signed according to known verbals.
Nice signing day get. Very athletic. This class, surprisingly, seems as good or better than previous years
247sports.com
Hunter Haines, West Linn , Safety
Hunter Haines is a 6-1, 185-pound Athlete from West Linn, OR.
247sports.com
Nice signing day get. Very athletic. This class, surprisingly, seems as good or better than previous years
Hunter Haines, West Linn , Safety
Hunter Haines is a 6-1, 185-pound Athlete from West Linn, OR.
A few things…
With the portal now making it easier for kids to move around…. I think you are seeing guys that would usually just walk away (retire) or just flat out quit, find new places to be. So more guys are in it longer. Creates less spots for new bodies.
The 6th year the NCAA gave to everyone for covid has put essentially 6 recruiting classes into rosters now. Creates less spots for new bodies.
I believe there is more HS talent available now by default. I think there are more talented guys than usual trickling down. I think WSU is going to find themselves in a position to still get very good 3 star players as long as this continues…. even with all the adversity recently.
Anyone know how many roster spots they have open?
22 so far according to WSU's site. I don't really follow recruiting, so have no idea how quality the class is. At least somebody likes us.Nice signing day get. Very athletic. This class, surprisingly, seems as good or better than previous years
Hunter Haines, West Linn , Safety
Hunter Haines is a 6-1, 185-pound Athlete from West Linn, OR.
Agree and the BIG Nil $$ is going to transfers, a known commodity, vs HS
Agree. You also have upper tier programs showing little interest to some of these 3* kids now as they figure what they don’t land in 4/5* they will pay for in the portal. Completely different game in HS recruiting and schools like WSU can make hay if they play it right. Problem remains once these kids are ready and become impact players on the field how the hell do you keep them in the program?
I’d be curious how a strategy might work if looking for freshman/sophs in the portal. They can’t transfer again without penalty till they graduate so you’d have them for at least two years.
Cool to see a nice recruiting class but hard not to think about how long they will actually be Cougs. Strange times.
Yeah, all we can bank on is them getting to campus and enjoying the Coug family atmosphere. And perhaps a quality education that will serve them their entire lives. Since our NIL funds are lame (sorry I'm not giving to it), I still like the idea of whatever stipend we can provide that goes to all players equally. Pizza money if nothing else.
After my initial panic wore off, I came to the realization that at the end of the day, WSU is going to rank where we typically have historically with regards to recruiting. Somewhere in the 50-60 range with a solid mix of 3-star kids and (hopefully) hidden gems. That looks to the case this year as well.
The rich kid programs have shifted 1/3 or more of their available slots to kids they can poach. That means we have the opportunity to get better kids from HS. The trade-off is that we may not keep them for 4 full years, but all in all I think we may be ahead. As long as we continue to be viewed as a program that permits a kid to show his potential we should be able to benefit at least somewhat, even without a huge NIL budget.
Tough for me to get too excited or be positive about ANY recruiting class.
Half of these guys will never contribute. Half of what is left will likely not be that impactful.
Its more likely that our favorite future Cougs are currently enrolled somewhere else and wearing a different jersey at the moment. That's all I have to say about that.
Half of these guys will never contribute. Half of what is left will likely not be that impactful.
Its more likely that our favorite future Cougs are currently enrolled somewhere else and wearing a different jersey at the moment. That's all I have to say about that.
WSU was not retaining the majority of its classes before NIL and the portal. It is a development school but that development is not 4-5 years. It is 2-3 at best and kids are gone.
The kids are fleecing the schools in NIL right now. Paydays and no length of terms required for deals? Amazing. Simply stupid how you can pay a kid so much $$$ and he can roll after 1-2 seasons or even sooner! And have zero financial consequence??? gtfo
Wanna see the portal slow down????? Make kids sign 3+ year NIL deals OR they can pay a hefty penalty.
It seems to me we were with Leach, that was one of his strengths. He recruited guys who were good enough in the classroom they wouldn’t flunk out, then developed them in the program and put them on the field their Junior and Senior years.
No idea if lengthier “contracts” are possible. I mentioned on a previous post it seems like it may make sense to find guys who are fresh/sophs in the portal. Can’t transfer again without penalty till they graduate so at that point you more or less have them locked in. The drawdown is you are going after kids who…let’s be frank…are potentially quitters.
I view this class as huge. Dickert said it on 710espn this afternoon about our schedule, “this is a bridge year”. We will find ourselves in a better situation 1-2 years from now. To get the recruiting done that they did in the face of all the shit flying around, is fairly impressive. Is it easier to get HS talent now? Maybe. All you can do is get talent here, hope to develop them, and then hope to retain them. They got themselves a bunch of solid guys to move forward with on that side of things while we figure out conference and NIL stuff going forward. And it seems the NIL collective has done a decent job of convincing guys to stick around at least to this point.
It is easier to get HS kids now. They do not have the options they had before covid.
The class is solid. I read the qb missed his senior year with injury. He must have had a big junior year.
My big grumble has nothing to do with the quality of who we got, it's that we only signed 3 OL. To me you take a minimum of 4 in every class, particularly if that's a position of weakness. Maybe there'll be a couple kids that transfer in, maybe not...
"Brand X" says four. Hope this post views correctly.🤞
DICKERT RAN DOWN the list on all 25 new faces joining the program.
DICKERT RAN DOWN the list on all 25 new faces joining the program.
- QB Evans Chuba: "Out of Clearwater, Fla., by way of Montreal, Canada. We found Evans at the Mercer camp this summer. Went down there to try and find some skill positions. He just wowed us with what he can do. An Anthony Richardson-type body. He's 6-3, 215. Runs well, big, strong arm. I love his personality and leadership ability and what he's going to bring to us as a mid-year player."
- RB Josh Joyner: "Out of Pacifica High School. Josh is one of those jack-knife type guys. He can do it all. He'll play in the slot, he'll be in the backfield. He's really dangerous in our zone schemes and the wide stretch schemes as well as out of the backfield catching the ball."
- RB Wayshawn Parker: "Rushed for almost 2,000 yards out of Grant High School in the Bay Area."
- WR Chris Barnes: "Out of storied North Shore, a program in Texas and the state runner-up. He's an explosive guy, he scored three touchdowns in the state championship game and had a 98-yard kickoff called back. Excited about adding him."
- WR Isaiah Cobbs: "Munford, Tenn., has been great to us and excited to add Isaiah to this class."
- WR Landon Wright: "Landon is that blend of outside and inside. Can take the top off, big-play guy out of Clovis West."
- WR Tony Freeman: "He's just a year out of high school. He had a lot of success at the College of San Mateo and he can plug into that slot position that was needed off of Lincoln (Victor) and Isaiah (Hamilton)'s void."
- OL Chris Lino: "That is as advertised. He's 6-8, 325 out of Seattle Prep. A big, physical presence that can get to the second level and stay on his feet. Very Esa Pole-esque as far as that big body left tackle."
- OL Carson Osmus: "If there is somebody at Camas High School that works harder than him, I'd love to see it. He is a hard-nosed worker and he has stayed true to his commitment to us and we're excited to add Carson."
- OL Xavier Thorpe: "He's going to remind you of that Abe Lucas-esque body. A four-sport athlete, he just completed his Eagle Scout. Even since this summer, he's gained 15 pounds. Player of the Year on the defensive side in the league and first-team All-Conference on the offensive side. Just a lot of development left to be had."
- OL AJ Hasson: "When we started recruiting AJ, he was a 6-3.5, 240-pound middle linebacker. As he has grown, he's now going to be an offensive lineman for us out of Davis High School. Just really excited about him and he will be here at the midway as well."
We obviously need as many linemen as we can get right now. In the bigger picture, it’s not about getting a “number” of players…it’s about doing a good job of evaluating the players you can land and getting as many as you can. Landing a bunch of fatties who are no good is pointless.
It’s ok to give a 4th or 5th offer to a project, but I’m less inclined to worry if the ones we get look good.
Don’t get caught up in numbers alone. Before too long, you lose focus and you start yelling about 80,000 seat stadiums.
First time I can ever remember WSU ranked First in the PAC in recruiting.
I re-read that X post. It frankly sounds like complete BS and/or a joke. Howe can we be #1 with nothing but 3 stars? Or OSU with only 12 signees? This guy is just yanking our chains, IMHO.
That said, our class looks solid. Good job by Dickert and staff in this current era on being in no man's land.
You need to recount. There is 4 OL. 3 HS OL, and 1 OL by either JC or transfer.
The correct amount of OL to get is:
At ULTIMATE EXTREME MINIMUM: 3, IF IN a situation where your OL Corp is extremely talented, deep, young, etc
4, at average, in most years.
5, in a year where need to shore up O Line.
6 at Ultimate Extreme Most.
The 4 OL in the class is enough
My quick take, which does not exactly align with many of you (no surprise there!).
- First, 4 OL is the bare minimum. If we had a young & solid O line this year, it is probably enough. Given how our OL was for much of the year, I expected 5. However, that is probably my only gripe with the class.
- 24 HS, 1 transfer. We recruited hard all year. The staff put in the work. I suspect the 24:1 ratio was due to several things: others had more NIL $ to use in buying players; we were able to get a slightly better group of HS kids this year because others were spending a lot of their slots poaching from others, rather than going the HS route; as a result of the first two things, we made a conscious decision to focus more on HS; our PAC 2 status & resulting uncertainty was a greater concern to the transfers than the HS kids; and finally this...I think the massive portal shift and resulting uncertainty at the HS level led a lot of kids to decide to go with a school that clearly wanted them and to make that decision earlier than normal. I have to assume that we were telegraphing to the HS kids that HS was our priority, while probably a lot of other schools were clearly chasing a LOT of portal kids (and every HS kid can follow all that just by looking at social media for who is following who). We focused on the HS kids while a lot of other schools at our level were clearly putting a lot of staff time and NIL resources into the portal. That also meant that the HS 3 star kids were not getting much NIL cash...because it was being sucked up by the 2nd and 3rd year transfers...which is another reason why this was a good move for WSU.
- I really like the class. There are many kids who could conceivably contribute their first year. And in the current environment of losing kids after 2 or 3 years, they need to produce quickly. I think we got more than usual of those "early contributor" kids.
- Finally, there were a lot of schools last year who went heavy with transfers and failed to acculture them enough to the new program to have a smooth start, even though many of those transfers looked good on paper (and on video). I think the better long term play for the Cougs is to go heavily with HS and only selectively grab transfers. IF the NIL/portal/roster size rules change, that could certainly change my opinion. But at this point, under the current situation, I like where we are. I think we've played the hand we were dealt very well...though I would still nitpick about having one more OL in the class.
- First, 4 OL is the bare minimum. If we had a young & solid O line this year, it is probably enough. Given how our OL was for much of the year, I expected 5. However, that is probably my only gripe with the class.
- 24 HS, 1 transfer. We recruited hard all year. The staff put in the work. I suspect the 24:1 ratio was due to several things: others had more NIL $ to use in buying players; we were able to get a slightly better group of HS kids this year because others were spending a lot of their slots poaching from others, rather than going the HS route; as a result of the first two things, we made a conscious decision to focus more on HS; our PAC 2 status & resulting uncertainty was a greater concern to the transfers than the HS kids; and finally this...I think the massive portal shift and resulting uncertainty at the HS level led a lot of kids to decide to go with a school that clearly wanted them and to make that decision earlier than normal. I have to assume that we were telegraphing to the HS kids that HS was our priority, while probably a lot of other schools were clearly chasing a LOT of portal kids (and every HS kid can follow all that just by looking at social media for who is following who). We focused on the HS kids while a lot of other schools at our level were clearly putting a lot of staff time and NIL resources into the portal. That also meant that the HS 3 star kids were not getting much NIL cash...because it was being sucked up by the 2nd and 3rd year transfers...which is another reason why this was a good move for WSU.
- I really like the class. There are many kids who could conceivably contribute their first year. And in the current environment of losing kids after 2 or 3 years, they need to produce quickly. I think we got more than usual of those "early contributor" kids.
- Finally, there were a lot of schools last year who went heavy with transfers and failed to acculture them enough to the new program to have a smooth start, even though many of those transfers looked good on paper (and on video). I think the better long term play for the Cougs is to go heavily with HS and only selectively grab transfers. IF the NIL/portal/roster size rules change, that could certainly change my opinion. But at this point, under the current situation, I like where we are. I think we've played the hand we were dealt very well...though I would still nitpick about having one more OL in the class.
Agree, agree, and agree. Bring the HS kids in, show them what being a Coug is all about. Do the best we can with this NIL BS. As I've said before give the limited amount across the board to everyone equally. Pizza money. Hey, if they turn out to be stars they can jump or get rich in the NFL. In the meantime, WSU is a special place.
"Pullman isn't the end of the world, but you can see it from here". - George Raveling
Yeah I'm always a big believer when everyone else's zigs, you zag.
I think the transfer portal is gonna prove to be a fugazzi in the next few years.
Yes, top teams can fill a few pieces...but ty ou cant be build a roster from it and I think there are going to be a lot of folks who want their NIL money back.
After watching portal news for the last few weeks, I think it's going to be harder on the "elite" programs than it will be for WSU. Lots of elite QB's and other skill position players are transferring after one year because they aren't convinced that they'll get to start as soon as they'd like and that's creating churn for everyone in that group. Lots of opportunity but a lot of risk. It feels like we are going to get the same dudes that we've ever gotten. There is the risk that a diamond in the rough will bail all on us after developing and that sucks, but the hope is that our NIL collective can get robust enough to make it harder for them to leave.
Come on, Loyal-pay attention! WSU is #1 in the PAC, and OSU is #2. OSU is also LAST in the league. Second place is also last place.
Oh yeah!
Hey I'm not mentally disabled, just a little slow at times. And often drunk. Which reminds me, I'm almost out of beer and better get to the minimart so I don't get lambasted by ED for careening around shitfaced dodging innocent women, children, dogs and other critters.The only disagreement I have, is that while going all in on HS made sense this year, and MAYBE another year, if it again works out that way, that going HS, and limiting transfers EVERY year, is probably not the way to go.
And the reason for that is, that in future years, more programs could go back to getting more HS players. And some programs have been, or will be watching WSU be successful at HS recruiting and why, and will choose to follow WSU's example for the same reasons that WSU has had, and will also go back to HS. Also HS recruiting will also be slightly harder because of WSU's situation the next 2 years, and also being hybrid G5/P4,5 at VERY BEST, if, when work out that way.
While equal, better programs then WSU will be raiding MWC, AAC, Big 12 teams like Iowa St, ACC teams like Duke, SEC team like VANDY, Big 10 like Rutgers, etc, for Portal transfers, via NIL, WSU, WSU types, can raid the JC ranks, FCS, WAC, Big West, Sun Belt, C-USA, etc, for Portal Transfers, because the better programs will be poaching better conferences, teams. That will leave a opening if WSU evaluates well, of getting some JC's, some from FCS, lesser conferences, etc.
Instead of going 23 HS, 1 JC, 1 transfer, or instead of 11 JC's, 11 Transfers, 3 HS, a RIGHT MIDDLE GROUND OF 4 to 6 to 8 JC's, 4 to 6 to 8 Transfers, and 10 to 13 to 16 HS, DEPENDING on PAYING ATTENTION, LISTENING, Keeping ears glued, WATCHING what the other programs are doing, etc, and then being FLEXIBLE, ADAPTABLE, and being able to QUICKLY SHIFT GEARS, CHANGE, etc, according to CHANGING RECRUITING CONDITIONS.
The coaching staff already did a good job of doing that. When the recruiting conditions changed, they went HEAVY on HS
If the situation warrants, then continuing to recruit HS heavily might probably be way to go.
But if the situation changes, to where recruiting HS wouldn't be the way to go, I wouldn't want the staff, to go on recruiting HS heavily, just because if they wrongly thought that was the way to go because if they weren't aware of the changing conditions.
So it REALLY DEPENDS. I just want them to do whatever is right based on the situation. If that means more HS, then so be it. If that means more JC, Portal Transfers, then so be it.
Got to be careful not to lock into one way or the other and saying either all or mostly HS, or all of most JC or transfers.
There needs to be moderation, and balance depending on the situation, and need to be flexible, adaptive depending on the situation.
That is how to recruit well, and survive for WSU.
Well, everyone knows that it’s always been understood that if you weren’t first, you’re last.
There was even a ballad about it.
It's 7am here, and you guys are already insulting me? Although I don't quite get this one.
" I went home last night at 2 with a 10 and woke up at 10 with a 2" - Willie Nelson.
I have a really nasty old story, I think true, about first and last. Way too bad even for this place. And surprisingly, having nothing to do with me.
Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby....the joke really didn't have anything to do with you.
What? every joke in this place has to do with me. And every nasty insult, Pay attention!
And I have never actually seen that movie, so your context confuses me. Not a new concept.
What? every joke in this place has to do with me. And every nasty insult, Pay attention!
And I have never actually seen that movie, so your context confuses me. Not a new concept.
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