No More Mr. Nice Wulff

Happy Thursday Cougs!!!

With the spring evaluation period coming to an end, we’re beginning to see trends in coach Paul Wulff’s recruiting strategies.  It seems that offers have been flowing out by the dozens as of late, and as players start to take unofficial visits this summer, hopefully they will translate into commits.  

One strategy Wulff has always employed is to be the first to offer EVERYONE.  This strategy has paid huge dividends.  It became almost expected that when Wulff offered a prospect, you would see their stock soar throughout the evaluation process by recruiting sites such as Scout.com and Rivals.com.  It would also become expected that other schools would follow suit and offer shorty after.  He and his staff have proven themselves to be excellent talent evaluators, and clearly they do their homework before offering a prospect.  

Another strategy that Wulff loves is to offer in bunches.  It has become a growing trend of his, to offer anywhere from 2-4 kids from the same high school.  This has also paid great dividends.  A couple of years ago, we offered 3 kids from Pittsburg HS in California.  We landed two of them, Robert Jiles and Tracy Clark.  Last year, we offered the “fearsome foursome” from Grant High School in Sacremento and ended up landing Daryl Paulo.  Just in the last couple of weeks, WSU has offered scholarships to two separate trios from two separate high schools in Arizona.  

Which brings me to my next subject: New recruiting trends…

We know that Northern California is, and probably always will be, Wulff’s bread and butter in terms of recruiting.  He’s also going to go strong after the good in-state kids.  And as long as Chris Ball is on his staff, Florida looks to be a big focus every year as well.  But this year, the staff is going hard after Arizona kids, which is something that cannot be said for previous years. 

The vast majority of Arizona prospects play their college football out of state, however, the area has not previously been much of a focus for the Cougs.  In fact, during Wulff’s tenure, we have yet to land a high school player from Arizona.  This year however, the staff has put out plenty of offers to the Grand Canyon State, and hopefully it will pay off.  

Another trend that we are starting to see is that Wulff and Co. are going after the big boys.  Wulff has offered some of the top prospects not only on the west coast, but in the nation.  It’s do or die time for CPW.  After 3 straight abysmal seasons, it’s either win or be fired, so it doesn’t hurt Wulff to go all in for some of the top prospects.  This is a VERY far stray from his philosophy of recruiting “under the radar” kids, and traditionally we have not landed the top kids, even during times of our program’s success.  

But who knows? Maybe we do start out 5-0 and kids start raising their eyebrows to the crimson and gray.  I suppose it doesn’t hurt to at least get our foot in the door with some of the big guys.  If we start out hot, and land a big-time recruit or two, it might be the right formula to save Wulff’s job.  

If anybody has followed recruiting during Wulff’s tenure, you know that there has been some serious heartbreak on, or around signing day.  Remember the names Asante Cleveland? Brandon Tuliaupupu? Bishop Stankey?  All these kids were once Cougar commits, only to be poached away by opposing coaches.  Poaching has become part of the game that is college football recruiting.  A game that Wulff has not played, until now…

For example, Wulff is going hard after Marcus Rios, a top cornerback prospect from Elk Grove, CA.  Rios committed long ago to Boise State, but the suitors have come out a plenty, including WSU.  He will be at WSU’s summer camp this year.  

For me, this is a welcome change.  I’m sick and tired of having the game played on us, and having to just watch and let it happen.  Bishop Stankey was the last straw.  Screw integrity and all that business, it just doesn’t exist in recruiting anymore.  Paul Wulff is a man of integrity, and poaching recruits is not in his nature, but his job is on the line, and he knows that if he wants to keep it, he’s going to have to play the game just like everyone else.  Hopefully, there’s no more Mr. Nice Wulff. 

Go Cougs!!!