UPDATE @ 1:05 PM – Dargan signs with Oregon (shocker). Meanwhile, still not clear on Buckley. The Spokesman was quoted this afternoon as saying that “he (Buckley) may still end up in Pullman if he can get his grades”, so, there you go.
There was some good news on Mizell, per coach Rich Rasmussen in the signing day chat over at WSUCougars.com: brett (Pullman): I know many people are interested in CJ Mizell. What can you say about him?
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Rich Rasmussen: Brett, honestly we just became aware of CJ about 10 days ago through a phone call made by a former player. He committed to Florida State at this time a year ago; however, he did not qualify initially with the NCAA. He has since completed the necessary requirements and is eligible. A year ago at this time he had offers from Florida, Florida State, Georgia, and South Carolina to name a few. We know that there may be some questions regarding his background and history; however, we have thoroughly investigated this and could not find a person who had a bad thing to say about him. We believe that he is going to have an opportunity to succeed in our environment because we are going to surround him with high-character individuals. That was something he embraced when he came on campus and during his recruitment. |
UPDATE @ 12:25 PM – Well, that is a wrap for today. Doing the math, we’re at 22 right now, including the JC o-linemen. Word is Erick Dargan is going to be announced with Oregon’s signees in the next half-hour. Still nothing on Julious Moore, the Bellevue d-tackle who was a Bruin commit. As of noon today, he still hadn’t been announced as signing with UCLA, so we’ll see.
UPDATE @ 11:50 AM – Looks like we lost a verbal commitment off the list. In a bit of a stunner, Maxx Forde of Woodinville signs with the Idaho Vandals. Thanks to Chris in comments for the heads-up.
UPDATE @ 11:15 AM Really good read on Mizell over at Cougfan. This one might be another Michael Bumpus signing day surprise! Also, we’re trying to check on Forde.
UPDATE @ 11:00 AM: We have our FIRST REAL WILD CARD signee, with former Florida State linebacker commit C.J. Mizell from Tallahassee, Fl now a Cougar! Mizell’s Scout.com link is below in the Wild Card list. Huge surprise, and a great get Coug coaches! Now at 22 for this class.
UPDATE @ 10:45 AM: With Horton and Simmons, that puts the total number of signees up to 21, including the two JC o-linemen who are already enrolled in Wade Jacobson and David Gonzales. As to the verbal commit list below, there is now just one player left who hasn’t yet sent in his letter, Woodinville’s Maxx Forde. No idea as to the delay there, but we’ll see what happens.
UPDATE @ 10:30 AM: Damante Horton, a cornerback from Oakland, and Matthew Simmons, a cornerback from Rancho Palos Verdes, CA, have now signed.
UPDATE @ 10:10 AM: Kalafitoni Pole, the athletic d-tackle from Union City, CA, is now a Coug, as is Brandon Golden, the cornerback from Covina, CA. Now up to 17 for the class, but still a ways to go.
UPDATE @ 9:30 AM: Two more in – late-commit running back Devontae Butler from Sacramento is now a Coug, as is safety Tyrone Duckett from Alameda, CA.
And for what it’s worth, Erick Dargan has NOT signed anywhere at this time. However, many know that 1) Dargan is high school teammates with Tracy Clark and Robert Jiles, both new WSU signee’s as of this morning, and 2) Oregon is his other finalist. For whatever reason, Oregon will NOT release any names of their signee’s until 1 PM PST, or when their last letter of intent has been received. I guess we can connect the dots and realize that it is not a good thing that Dargan is still unaccounted for at this time, while Clark and Jiles have already signed. Stay tuned.
UPDATE @ 9:15 AM: Good news – three more in – RB Rickey Galvin from Berkeley, WR Marques Wilson from Tulare, CA, and Connor Halliday from Spokane. More bad news though – JC d-tackle David Mahoney has signed with New Mexico State….See the list below for more.
UPDATE @ 8:45 AM: Five more in – Robert Jiles and Tracy Clark from Pittsburg, CA, Jake Rodgers from Spokane, and WR’s Bobby Ratliff and Kristoff Williams have signed. Bad news on Asante Clevelend though, he’s headed for Miami….See the list below for more.
UPDATE @ 7:45 AM: First five are in – Oertel, Fullington, Bomber, Bucannon, Dunn. See the list below for more….plus we added a new “wild card” into the mix, rumored to possibly be sneaking out to good ‘ol WSU. WELCOME TO PULLMAN! Should have a lot more NLI’s rolling in starting in the 8 o’clock hour. GO COUGS!
Greetings Cougs! Well, this is it. Signing day is now upon us. The faxes should start rolling into the Bohler football offices at any moment, and new Cougs up and down the west coast will make it official. It should be an exciting day! And on paper anyway (well, OK, not on paper anymore…it’s more like “on PC monitors”), this looks like one of the top classes in recent WSU history. Maybe, top to bottom, one of the most complete signing classes when you think about who, exactly, they might be adding in the coming hours.
Let’s see – headline, top 25 QB with a big arm and size? Check. Talented offensive linemen? Check, on at least three of them, maybe even more than that if/when some of these guys convert to the position. Dynamic, athletic tight ends? Check, with maybe up to three set to sign. Speed and athleticism at the skill positions? You betcha, at least five WR’s and two running backs ready to pull the trigger. How about the secondary? Yep, that’s covered too, with four corners and at least two safeties ready to make it official.
And how can anyone overlook what Paul Wulff said just a few days ago in that article in the Spokesman?
“This is the kind of class that can bring you a conference championship.”
Sure, it’s big talk, but what the heck. And if you’ve paid attention to Wulff’s style the last couple of years, you know that he isn’t a big talker in terms of bragging on how great things are. So to hear him say stuff like that? It got my attention, I’ll definitely say that.
Anyway, all projections are that WSU will likely be in the mid-30’s nationally when it’s all said and done. Definitely not a top, top class compared to the rest of the country, but certainly one of the best classes in recent WSU history.
Now the bad news….and you probably know this if you are a regular around here….but yeah, recruiting rankings can be a little….BUNK, I guess? For example, the top WSU class since 2002 was the ’04 class. Sure, there were some headliners like Michael Bumpus, Jerome Harrison, Tyron Brackenridge and Jed Collins. But there were some legendary misses in that class as well. No need to totally rehash it now, not on a day like today, but you can check out the Scout.com 2004 ratings here to see what we’re talking about.
With that, let’s get down to business. You probably know that the Cougfan’s of the world are going to “blow it out” today, and for good reason. This is their Super Bowl, it’s what they do best. WSU’s official site is going to be updating the player announcements with full bio’s as well, and they always do a tremendous job. We won’t try to compete with coverage like that, because it just isn’t possible. But what we decided to do this year is something slightly different. This year, we’re going with a couple of lists, which you can check out after the “read more” feature further on down this very post.
The lists are comprised of two sets of WSU prospects. List #1 are the current known WSU verbal commitments, as of the evening of February 2nd. This list is who pretty much everyone has reported as being a Cougar, and are pretty solid in their commitment to coach Wulff and the WSU program. List #2, on the other hand, is our “Wild Card” list. This list is made up of potential WSU signee’s, where WSU was rated among their finalists, but there isn’t anything official. Also included is a new WSU “soft verbal”, per Scout.com, as well as a potential gray-shirt signee who was said to be looking hard at WSU after some developments with his commitment last week.
Now, as each player’s national letter of intent is received and announced by WSU, we will update the list with this little guy, right next to the player name:
Cute, isn’t it? That symbol will be added to the left of each player name who signs with the Cougs. Now, if a player goes and signs elsewhere? We won’t totally remove said player from the list. Instead, we’ll keep the name on the list, but give it the ever-popular “strike-through”, like this:
Player XYZ signs with UCLA.
This is all designed to help you sort out “where did so-and-so sign? Have we received so-and-so’s letter?” and so on……
Further, we’ll update the beginning of this post throughout the day as the letters are announced in bunches, plus pass on any rumors and stuff that may come our way.
Here we go! Hit the read more for the lists.
Enjoy the ride today, if it’s even possible, and of course, GO COUGS!
Known WSU Verbal Commitments as of Signing Day 2010:
Name: Blair Bomber
Position: Wide Receiver
Stars: 2
Ht/Wt/40 time: 5-9/170/4.40
Name: Deone Bucannon
Position: Safety
Stars: 3
Ht/Wt/40 time: 6-1.5/180/4.59
Name: Devontae Butler
Position: Running back
Stars: 2
Ht/Wt/40 time: 5-11/180
(note – late breaking news on Tuesday night from the SacBee had Butler to sign w/ WSU)
Name: Tracy Clark
Position: Cornerback
Stars: 3
Ht/Wt/40 time: 5-10/175/4.55
Name: Tyrone Duckett
Position: Safety
Stars: 2
Ht/Wt/40 time: 6-1.5/200
Name: Aaron Dunn
Position: Tight end
Stars: 4
Ht/Wt/40 time: 6-6.5/235/4.79
Name: Maxx Forde signs with Idaho.
Position: Defensive end
Stars: 3
Ht/Wt/40 time: 6-4/240/4.69
Name: John Fullington
Position: Offensive tackle
Stars: 3
Ht/Wt/40 time: 6-6/270
Name: Rickey Galvin
Position: Running back
Stars: 3
Ht/Wt/40 time: 5-8/172/4.50
Name: Brandon Golden
Position: Cornerback
Stars: 2
Ht/Wt/40 time: 6-0/192/4.40
Finalists: WSU, Colorado
Name: David Gonzales (note – already enrolled)
Position: Offensive tackle
Stars: 3
Ht/Wt/40 time: 6-6/275/5.00
Name: Connor Halliday
Position: Quarterback
Stars: 3
Ht/Wt/40 time: 6-5/186
Name: Damante Horton
Position: Cornerback
Stars: 3
Ht/Wt/40 time: 5-10.5/175
Name: Wade Jacobson (note – already enrolled)
Position: Offensive tackle
Stars: 3
Ht/Wt/40 time: 6-6/310/5.30
Name: Robert Jiles
Position: Wide receiver
Stars: 3
Ht/Wt/40 time: 6-0/185/4.47
Name: Eric Oertel
Position: Middle linebacker
Stars: 3
Ht/Wt/40 time: 6-2/195
Name: Kalafitoni Pole
Position: Defensive tackle
Stars: 3
Ht/Wt/40 time: 6-2.5/275/4.89
Name: Bobby Ratliff
Position: Wide receiver
Stars: 3
Ht/Wt/40 time: 6-1/180/4.56
Name: Jake Rodgers
Position: Tight end
Stars: 3
Ht/Wt/40 time: 6-7/245
Name: Matt Simmons
Position: Cornerback
Stars: 3
Ht/Wt/40 time: 6-0/185
Name: Kristoff Williams
Position: Wide receiver
Stars: 2
Ht/Wt/40 time: 6-2/205/4.66
Name: Marquess Wilson
Position: Wide receiver
Stars: 3
Ht/Wt/40 time: 6-3/170/4.60
Name: Quayshawne Buckley
Position: Defensive tackle
Stars: 3
Ht/Wt/40 time: 6-4/280/5.24
Finalists: WSU, Oregon State(perhaps?)
Name: Asante Cleveland signed with Miami.
Position: Tight end
Stars: 3
Ht/Wt/40 time: 6-5/235/4.70
Finalists: WSU (soft verbal), U of Miami
Name: Erick Dargan Signed with Oregon.
Position: Safety
Stars: 4
Ht/Wt/40 time: 6-0/190/4.6
Finalists: Oregon, WSU, UCLA(?)
Name: David Mahoney (JC) Signs with New Mexico State.
Position: Defensive tackle
Stars: 3
Ht/Wt/40 time: 6-2/285/4.90
Finalists: WSU, New Mexico State, Florida Int’l, Tennessee, Texas Tech among many.
Name: Julious Moore
Position: Defensive tackle
Stars: 3
Ht/Wt/40 time: 6-1/265/4.80
Finalists: UCLA verbal commit. May not sign for a while per info from high school coach.
Name: CJ Mizell
Position: Linebacker
Stars: 4
Ht/Wt/40 time: 6-3/215/4.8
Finalists: Signed with Florida State last year, yet didn’t qualify. Mizell is now a Coug!
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