Happy Thursday Cougs!!
Every year it happens. Attrition via academics. It’s what allows coaches to over-sign during recruiting. The fact of the matter is that lots of people don’t meet the demands of a college education, and all the tutors in the world could not make athletes immune to that fact. On top of that, many incoming recruits will never set foot on a D-1 campus because they just didn’t get it done in high school.
So here we are, only a couple weeks away from fall camp. This post might be completely immature, due to the fact that we are awaiting word on the status of several incoming recruits. But as of today we do know that at least one incoming recruit and one former player will not be suiting up this fall…According to Vince Grippi, Niko Aumua, a junior college DE from Contra Costa College has failed to qualify academically and will not be attending WSU. Additionally, Arthur Burns, a reserve RB from the class of 2009 will also not be at WSU this fall, though his future status is undetermined.
As of grades for the current roster, we seem to be in pretty good shape…except on the defensive line. Both Toni Pole and Brandon Rankin have work to do in the classroom this summer if they are to be good to go for this season. Thankfully, initial reports are good for the two. We can ill-afford to lose either of those brutes as they will be key to helping reinforce our rebuilding defense.
In terms of incoming recruits. Aumua is the first casualty of potentially many in the 2011 class. Also mentioned in the Grippi post, Brock Lutes, Rahmel Dockery, Wendell Taiese, Alex Mitchell, and Demetrius Cherry are all on the bubble of qualifying before fall camp.
More than likely, one or two will not make it in. However, it’s not a deal breaker if they don’t. As previously mentioned, coaches have started over-signing the limit of 25 players to help offset the loss of academic and disciplinary casualties to a football team. Paul Wulff signed 29 in the 2011 class, including recent addition Moritz Christ, expecting to lose a few players this offseason.
Fortunately attrition has been at a minimal, and if Rankin, Pole, and all the remaining freshman qualify, we will actually not have enough scholarships available and will have to grey-shirt a couple of kids anyway. If one or two do not qualify, they will essentially be volunteering themselves for that. However, once a player greyshirts due to academics, it seems like a very slim chance we will see them in the spring. For every Xavier Cooper, there’s 3 or 4 Quayshawne Buckleys.
Nonetheless, the picture will sort itself out in the next couple of weeks. The player who I have raved about most in this class is Rahmel Dockery. I am crossing my fingers and toes hoping he makes it in. Someone asked him about when he will be coming to Pullman on his twitter account, to which he replied, “I leave on the 5th.” He has mentioned before that he has online classes to finish up. That will be the extent of my twitter creeperage. Thought I’d share it with you though.
GO COUGS!!!
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