WSU COUG MEN’S BASKETBALL FROM SPOKANE
8 o’clock evening tip-off on Wed. Dec 20 2017
Spokane Veterans Memorial Arena
Live on ESPN2
//////////
FOOTBALL
A record amount of targeting calls, with Pac-12 leading the
way
Officials more likely to flag hits to the head
By Eric Olson, Associated Press 12/20/2017
Targeting penalties in the top tier of college football
reached an all-time high this season, and the Pac-12 and Southeastern
conferences had the most players flagged, according to an analysis of NCAA data
and research by the Associated Press.
It has been 10 years since the crackdown started on forcible
hits above the shoulders of players determined to be defenseless. This season,
the NCAA reported 188 enforced targeting calls in 832 regular-season games of
the Bowl Subdivision; that is 30 percent more than last year, when there were
144 in 839 games. The per-game average has risen 35 percent, from 0.17 last
year to 0.23 this season. It is the fourth consecutive season that targeting
calls have increased.
That might seem alarming, but the increase doesn't indicate
a trend of head-hunting in the sport, said Rogers Redding, the NCAA's national
coordinator of officials. He attributed the increase to officials getting
better at detecting the penalty, more willingness of replay officials to call
fouls missed on the field and the expanded definition of what constitutes a
defenseless player.
The calls may be up, but play is likely safer.
"Players are getting their head out of it, they're
lowering their strike zone, you don't see as much of a launch, but you still see
a crouch and upward thrust," he said. "Even though the numbers are
up, the player behavior overall has changed."
The NCAA compiles its numbers through reports submitted each
week by conferences. A conference report includes any targeting call made by
its officiating crews, even if the penalty was against an opponent from another
conference. The NCAA report, therefore, would not always reflect the actual
number of targeting fouls committed by players in a particular league.
The AP verified the circumstances of 176 targeting calls
this season through official play-by-play sheets, media accounts and with the
assistance of school and conference sports information directors.
The SEC confirmed 27 instances of its players being flagged
for targeting but declined to provide details of five calls not reported on
play-by-play sheets or by the media. In all, the AP could not account for seven
targeting penalties out of the 188 reported by the NCAA.
Among the AP's findings:
The Pac-12 had a
nation-high 30 targeting calls against its players, with UCLA and Utah having
five apiece.
Five other FBS
schools had five targeting calls: Akron, New Mexico State, Ohio State, Temple
and Texas A&M.
Akron cornerback
Alvin Davis Jr. was flagged for targeting three times, most in the nation, and
seven other players were each flagged twice.
On 152 running or
passing plays when targeting occurred, 46 calls were against safeties, 43
against defensive linemen, 33 against linebackers and 20 against cornerbacks.
Of the 176
verified calls, 113 occurred on pass plays, 39 on runs, 21 on kickoffs or
punts, and one each on a point-after touchdown, 2-point conversion try and
field-goal attempt.
More than half of
the possessions in which targeting was called ended with a score for the
offended team - 83 touchdowns, 18 field goals.
Targeting most
often occurred on first down (59 times).
The 14-team Atlantic Coast Conference had only six enforced
targeting calls. Redding said differing styles of play can lead to variances
across conferences, but he said the ACC figure was surprisingly low and he
initially thought it was the result of a reporting error.
ACC coordinator of football officiating Dennis Hennigan said
it's no mistake. He credited league coaches for doing a good job of teaching
proper tackling technique and what's legal, and the players for adapting to
targeting rules. Hennigan said he was satisfied with how his officiating crews
performed.
"I don't know if it was the luck of the draw this year,
but we simply didn't have a lot of targeting in our conference. Just one of
those years," he said. "Obviously, I hope that (ACC) trend
continues."
Todd Berry, executive director of the American Football
Coaches Association, also noted the disparity between the ACC and the Pac-12
but said one year is too small a sample.
"If those numbers come back, we need to look at, 'Is
the Pac-12 officiating it right or is the ACC not officiating it right?"'
Berry said. "We need to look at several years of data."
The targeting penalty was introduced in 2008 not just
because of growing concerns about the sport's concussion risk but also as a
response to research showing catastrophic head, neck, spine and brain injuries
at all levels of football spiked in the 2000s.
Targeting initially was a personal foul, but starting in
2013 it resulted in a player ejection, and since then all targeting calls are
subject to video review and can be overturned. In 2016, replay officials were
given the discretion to call targeting fouls missed by field officials, and
this year their charge expanded to stopping the game to call any targeting foul
they see.
The number of calls initiated by replay officials more than
doubled this year, from 22 to 57. Redding also pointed out that in the last two
years the definition of a defenseless player has expanded to include a sliding
ball-carrier and a player who is blocked from his blind side.
"That opens it up for more susceptibility for more
targeting fouls," he said.
Redding said the NCAA Football Rules Committee sees no need
to change the rule at this point.
"My advice to the committee is going to be let's not
mess with this now," he said. "Let's let this sit and bake for a
while. I think we need to get everyone used to where the rule is."
The AFCA's Berry said coaches are frustrated that players
are ejected for targeting on plays where they couldn't avoid the type of
contact that got him flagged. An example, he said, is when a receiver jumps for
a ball. As he comes down, he tends to curl up, and the defender can't get his
head out of the way in that "bang-bang moment."
Redding said targeting wouldn't be called if the defender's
contact was not forcible. Removing the ejection from the type of play Berry
described was discussed, and dismissed, by the rules committee last year.
"The football committee and officiating community
cannot be seen backing away from this rule," Redding said. "The game
is still under attack. The rule has worked very well. The optics of backing
away from this rule would be really terrible, so the committee is not in a mood
to do that at all."
………..
Pullman's hate crime reward fund remains untouched
Law enforcement officials say rare occurrence of such crimes
to blame
By Scott Jackson,
Moscow Pullman Daily News 12/20/2017
Nearly a year after its establishment, a reward fund for
those reporting hate crimes in Pullman has sat untouched for more than a year,
law enforcement officials say.
Pullman Police Department Cmdr. Chris Tennant said this may
be simply due to the infrequency of this type of crime. Since the fund was
started, he said, hate crime locally has been a rarity.
"Right now, our case numbers are in the 13,000
range," Tennant said. "Out of those 13,000 incidents, we've only had
six that are classified as some type of hate crime."
Tennant said the event that drove the creation of the fund
was a case of vandalism in which the victim's car had been spray painted with
anti-homosexual slurs. The vandals were never caught, Tennant said.
"When members of the community saw what had happened,
they said, you know, this does not speak for us," Pullman Police Chief
Gary Jenkins said. "That's kind of what generated that whole
movement."
Terrence "Terry" Day, who created the fund, said
he had hoped to incentivise cooperation with law enforcement but also to send a
message of tolerance. Early donors to the cause include Day, former Pullman
Mayor Karen Kiessling and current Mayor Glenn Johnson, all of whom donated $500
apiece.
"I created the fund, with the help of several other
people, including the mayor, to give this community an opportunity to express
itself about hate crime," Day said.
Day said he finds all forms of hate repugnant, no matter who
the victim may be. He said he hopes the current climate surrounding sexual
assault will energize victims of all forms of harassment.
"I think that women victims of harassment are setting a
new standard for any kind of victim of a crime, and they're coming forward and
I appreciate it," Day said. "I hope that it too will stimulate people
who are victims of other types of hate crime to go public with it."
…………….
Getting by with less: Gap grows between FBS haves, have-nots
By RALPH D. RUSSO of
AP 12/.20/2017
Pete Lembo has seen both sides of major college football as
the head coach at Ball State and now as an assistant at Maryland.
At Ball State in the Mid-American Conference, a simple
decision like buying black helmets for the team came with concessions. There
was give and take on every decision.
"And I would share that openly with our team,"
Lembo said. "I would say, 'Look guys, this is life. You're going to have
to make these same kind of decisions when you're a husband and when you're a
father and you're going to have to work with your wife on these kind of
things."'
At Maryland in the Big Ten, life is easier, relatively
speaking. Boosted by a share of the Big Ten's billion-dollar television deals,
Maryland brought in $94 million in athletic revenue in 2015-16, according to
the figures compiled by USA Today - $70 million more than Ball State.
Media rights deals and the College Football Playoff have
increased revenue at all levels of the Football Bowl Subdivision, but the gap
has grown between the Group of Five leagues and the Power Five conferences -
the SEC, ACC, Big Ten, Big 12 and Pac-12. Over the next month, Group of Five teams
will mostly play in third-tier bowl games in front of sparse crowds, earning
payouts that mostly cover travel expenses. The Power Five teams get the glamor
bowls with the multimillion-dollar payouts.
It is not quite haves and have-nots, but the differences
show in the most practical ways.
Bigger staffs allow coaches more time to actually coach.
Players not only have access to better facilities for training, but their
health and performance is more thoroughly monitored from practice to training
table. They also get more academic supervision and support.
"There's a big difference between a need and a
want," said Joe Parker, the athletic director at Colorado State, which
recently opened a new $220 million on-campus football stadium. "I think we
fulfill every need that I've seen on our campus as it relates to
intercollegiate athletes. The list of wants is extensive and there's probably
not a budget to address every one of them. That's the space we live in, making
those tough decisions and prioritizing them. Not convincing ourselves that this
thing that might look and seem nice is a necessity when it really isn't
it."
Colorado State's athletic revenue was just under $40
million, which ranks in the top half of the Mountain West but is still $18
million less than Washington State, which ranked last among the Power Five's
public schools.
Twenty-eight Power Five schools reported athletic revenue of
more than $100 million, with Texas A&M leading the way at nearly $195
million. Each of the Power Five conferences made payouts to their members
ranging between from $42 million in the Southeastern Conference to about $29
million in the Pac-12.
The College Football Playoff distributed at least $60
million to each Power Five conference last season, with the Big Ten netting
$70.9 million. The Group of Five payouts ranged from the MAC at $21.9 million
to Conference USA at $13.9 million.
Not all Group of Five conferences are created equal, but
even the most lucrative - the American Athletic Conference - is paying its
members about 10 times less than what most Power Five leagues share with their
schools.
Lembo coached at Ball State from 2011-15, going 33-29 (23-17
in the MAC). After a 3-9 season in 2015 that made his future at the school
uncertain, he left to become assistant head coach and special teams coordinator
for head coach DJ Durkin at Maryland. Lembo made about $515,000 in his final
season with the Cardinals, and made $350,000 last year at Maryland, which is
about $60,000 less than what several MAC head coaches make.
At Colorado State, Parker paid head coach Mike Bobo $1.55
million last year, about $100,000 less than Kansas coach David Beaty, who was
the lowest-paid coach in Power Five.
Parker and many ADs in his position try to downplay the
differences in revenue, and to some extent they have a point. Ohio from the MAC
beat Kansas this season. Northern Illinois, another MAC school, beat Nebraska
from the Big Ten. Memphis from the AAC beat UCLA from the Pac-12.
"I think a lot of emphasis is placed on budget size.
Maybe too much," said Parker, who has previously worked in athletic
administration at Texas Tech, Michigan, Oklahoma, Washington State and Texas.
"In what I've seen when people line up to compete, the size of your budget
doesn't have much meaning at that moment."
………………….
Cougar men set for Spokane game
It’s the Kirk Schulz bowl from the Spokane Arena
By Jeff Collier Coug Center Dec 20, 2017, 5:18am PST
Sure, it’s early signing day in Pullman. But it’s also
gameday in Spokane.
After snapping their three game skid on Saturday against
IUPUI, the Cougs will return to action tonight against Kansas State in their
home away from home: Spokane Arena.
It’s the second straight year that Washington State will be
heading north to play a game. Last year the team topped Oregon State in the
Lilac City 75-62. The team also played a “neutral” site game against Kansas
State at the Sprint Center in Kansas City, which they lost 70-56.
The Cougs started the year with a six game win streak
against some high quality teams before losing three straight to some... Um...
Not high quality teams. But Kansas State might be their toughest test yet. The
Wildcats are 9-2, with their only two losses coming to the (now) 3rd ranked
Arizona State Sun Devils and a tough Tulsa team. K-State boasts one of the
toughest defenses around, with the 17th ranked scoring defense in the country
and the 27th ranked defense against field goal percentage.
But, of course, the main story line in this one comes
straight from the top: It’s the Kirk Schulz bowl in Spokane. President Schulz
spent seven years as president at Kansas State before coming to Washington
State. Now, he’s hoping to cheer on his new school to victory.
Tip off set for 8 PM from Spokane Veterans Memorial Arena. If
you can’t make it to Spokane, you can watch live on ESPN2.
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Kansas State brings tough-as-nails defense into neutral site
game against Washington State
UPDATED: Tue., Dec. 19, 2017, 8:36 p.m.
By Theo Lawson S-R of Spokane
PULLMAN – Typically in the past, when the Washington State
Cougars have traveled to Spokane to play a team this stout on defense, the
Gonzaga Bulldogs have been the ones sitting on the other bench.
Mark Few’s club will be nowhere in sight Wednesday at the
Spokane Arena, but expect the Cougars to find it just as difficult – if not
more so – to put the ball in the hoop when they tip off with Kansas State at 8
p.m. Wednesday’s game, which will be televised on ESPN2, is the second in as
many years between the Cougars and Wildcats. The nonconference foes played a
“neutral site” game at the Sprint Center in Kansas City, Missouri, last year.
In that game, KSU pulled away in the second half to grab a
70-56 win. The Wildcats don’t appear any less formidable in Bruce Weber’s sixth
season than they did in his fifth.
At 9-2, KSU could be the most talented team the Cougars have
seen during the nonconference season. All the evidence suggests they’ll
certainly be the toughest on which to score.
“They play extremely hard, they can shoot the ball, they’re
awesome in transition and they’ll be the best defensive team we’ve played
against,” WSU coach Ernie Kent said.
That means the Cougars might be hard-pressed to hit their 76
points-per-game quota against a KSU team that ranks 17th nationally in scoring
defense (62 ppg allowed) and 27th in field-goal percentage defense (38.4). In
six of their nine wins this year, the Wildcats have held the opponent to less
than 60 points and on two other occasions, the opponent failed to crack 70.
Vanderbilt has been the only opponent to reach its season
scoring average against KSU.
“They never take a play off on defense. They’re always in
the right spots,” WSU forward Jeff Pollard said. “And even if they are in the
wrong spots or they get screwed up on defense, they just give so much effort
that it makes up for those mistakes.”
Pollard and starting guard Viont’e Daniels were shelved for
the 2016 meeting because of injury/illness. Earlier the same day, the Cougars
announced that guard Derrien King was parting ways with the basketball program.
That shortened Kent’s bench to three players, including
Steven Shpreyregin, a walk-on who made his WSU debut in Kansas City and logged
10 minutes. The Cougars were within two points of the Wildcats at halftime, but
KSU throttled WSU in the second half and led by as many as 19 in the final 2
minutes.
WSU’s fleet of reserves is much deeper this season and it’s
also been more productive. The bench scores 26.7 ppg as opposed to 13.1 in
2016-17. Shpreyregin is the only Cougar in danger of missing out on Wednesday’s
game.
Kansas State employs a hefty front line that’s led by
6-foot-10 junior forward Kevin Wade, who’s good for 13.5 points and 6.4
rebounds per game.
“He plays tough, he’s smart,” Kent said. “He’s a guy again
that’s going to demand you to be present with him at all times and really play
just as hard or if not harder than he does.”
He’s just one of four double-digit scorers for Weber, who’s
also expected to start Kamau Stokes (14.6 ppg), Barry Brown Jr. (13.6), Xavier
Sneed (12.5) and Makol Mawien. Sneed stands 6-5 while Mawien checks in at 6-9.
The Wildcats play big as well – befitting a team that
averages taller than 6-7 across its front line.
Recalling last year’s game, Pollard said, “It was kind of
one of those, the gloves are off and it’s just going to be a dogfight. So I’m
looking forward to it again this year.”
Perhaps not as much as WSU’s second-year president. It’s not
lost on the Cougars that they’re facing Kirk Schulz’s old school. Schulz spent
seven years as the president at KSU before accepting the same job in Pullman on
March 25, 2016.
“I think that brings a lot more will for us to want to win,”
forward Drick Bernstine said. “I think we’re all going to be ready for the
game.”
………………………………
Live thread: Washington State announces first wave of
signees as early signing period begins
UPDATED: Wed., Dec. 20, 2017, 9:33 a.m.
By Theo Lawson
Spokesman of Spokane
PULLMAN – The year of 2017 brought us a solar eclipse, the
downfall of net neutrality, a feud between Floyd Mayweather and Conor McGregor,
a feud between Donald Trump and LaVar Ball and now finally, the NCAA’s new
early signing period.
The third week of December has become every bit as important
as the first week of February for college football coaches far and wide and the
staff at Washington State will hope to secure more than a dozen signatures
before it shifts its full attention to the Dec. 28 Holiday Bowl against
Michigan State.
Mike Leach and his assistants will give the fax machine some
distance when they head out to Rogers Field for a noon bowl practice, but by
the time they return, there’s a good chance they’ll have a bulk of the 2018
class locked up.
The early signing period, which runs today through Friday,
doesn’t replace but rather supplements the traditional National Signing Day
that will fall on the 7th day of February next year.
It’s still in WSU’s best interest to collect as many autographs
as it can today. Below you’ll find a live thread of those players who’ve chosen
to sign early with the Cougars. The thread will be updated throughout the day
with bios and highlight tapes as more names come in.
(Click on player’s name to access Twitter bio; player offers
according to 247Sports)
Brandon Gray
Position: Wide receiver
Height/weight: 6-5, 172
High school: Cass Tech (Detroit, Michigan)
Other P-5 offers: Arkansas, Iowa St., Minnesota, Syracuse,
Michigan St., Wisconsin
The scoop: It must have taken a heckuva recruiting pitch
from the Cougars to bring Gray out west. WSU is not only the only Pac-12 offer
that he lists, but it’s also the only school Minnesota that apparently gave him
a look. Then again, the Cougars have gone far and wide for their receivers, so
maybe all it took for Gray was a glance at WSU’s passing numbers under Mike
Leach. At 6-5, 172, Gray is another player who should be able to give the
Cougars an immediate hand on the outside.
Kendrick Catis
Position: Inside linebacker
Junior college: Highland C.C. (Highland, Kansas)
Other P-5 offers: Arizona State
The scoop: Intially, Catis verbally pledged to the Pac-12
program in Tempe, but he decommitted from Arizona State less than two weeks
ago. An inside linebacker from Deerfield, Florida, Catis spent his last two
years at the junior college in Kansas and finished his sophomore season at the
Scotties’ second-leading tackler with 70 takedowns. That’s in addition to 12.5
tackles-for-loss, one interception and one forced fumble.
Cammon Cooper
Position: Quarterback
High school: Lehi (Lehi, Utah)
Height/weight: 6-3, 179
Other P-5 offers: Arizona St., Georgia, Indiana, Iowa St.,
Kansas, Louisville, Tennessee, Ole Miss, Oregon St., North Carolina, Missouri
If anybody’s going to push Tyler Hilinski for QB1 next year,
it’d probably be Cooper. Built to run Leach’s Air Raid offense, the Lehi
signal-caller rewrote Utah’s record books throughout a senior season that
culminated with a resounding 55-17 win in the state title game. The passing
marks he holds include: season passing yards (4,726), season touchdown passes (58),
season completions (331), career TD passes (118) and career completions (876).
Luke Falk previously held the completions record.
Cade Beresford
Position: Offensive line
High school: Woodinville (Woodinville, Washington)
Height/weight: 6-7, 270
Other P-5 offers: USC, Arizona, Arizona St., Nebraska,
Oregon St., UCLA
Not quite The Continent 2.0, but at 6-7, 270, Beresford will
already have the frame to compete for playing time on an offensive line that’ll
be on the lookout for three new starters next fall. Beresford was taking snaps
as a third-string quarterback for Woodinville only two years ago, but he buffed
up in a major way. Just how much? He was 200 pounds as a sophomore, so you can
do the math.
Jarrett Kingston
Position: Offensive line/defensive line
High school: Anderson (Anderson, California)
Height/weight: 6-5, 255
Other offers: Wyoming, Nevada, Sacramento State, San Diego
State
Kingston didn’t have much in the way of Power Five interest,
but then again, hasn’t been the case for most of WSU’s trenchmen over the
years? UW and Colorado reportedly took a peek, but the Cougars signified his
only Pac-12 offer. A two-way player at Anderson High, Kingston racked up 56
tackles, 20 TFL, and 8.5 sacks as a junior, but given that Clay McGuire was his
primary recruiter, it seems Kingston is primed for a future on the WSU O-line.
Brennan Jackson
Position: Defensive line
High school: Great Oak (Temecula, California)
Height/weight: 6-4, 238
Other P-5 offers: Arizona, Cal, Iowa State
A three-star prospect from southern California, Jackson
chose the Cougars over two Pac-12 schools and Princeton. As a junior at Great
Oak, he totaled 72 tackles and four sacks before verbally pledging to WSU over
the summer. Jackson doubled as a tight end for his high school in Temecula, but
his future in Pullman is certainly on the defensive side of the ball.
Patrick Nunn
Position: Defensive back
High school: Junipero Serra (San Mateo, California)
Height/weight: 6-3, 206
Other offers: Fresno State, Hawaii, Nevada, San Jose State,
UNLV, Wyoming
Serra won the first CIF State title in its history last
Friday and a school-record 13 wins probably wouldn’t have happened without
Nunn, a Swiss Army knife defensive back/wide receiver who took cornerback out
for a spin for the first time during the Division 2-A finals against Cajon of
San Benardino. Cajon entered the contest with 735 points on the year – more
than anyone in the state – and came out of it with just 749. That’s partially
because of the job Nunn did on 6-8 Cajon receiver and Texas A&M target
Darren Jones. In listing Nunn as its Athlete of the Week, the San Mateo Daily
Journal wrote, “Congratulations, Washington State. You’re getting a good one.”
Syr Riley
Position: Offensive line
High school: Palisades (Pacific Palisades, California)
Height/weight: 6-3, 323
Other P-5 offers: Cal
A win over then fifth-ranked USC certainly didn’t hurt the
Cougars on the recruiting trail and it certainly caught the eyes of three-star guard
Syr Riley, who committed just three days after the upset win in Pullman. “That
whole start to finish, that was remarkable,” Riley told Southern California
Prep Insider. Riley’s weight (323 pounds) would currently make him the
third-biggest of the returning offensive linemen on WSU’s roster and if the
Cougars keep him at guard, he might be able to push for one of the two starting
vacancies.
Kedron Williams
Position: Linebacker/safety
High school: St. John Bosco (Bellflower, California)
Height/weight: 6-1, 190
Other P-5 offers: Boston College
WSU was the first to offer Williams, who graduates this
spring from the prestigious St. John Bosco in southern California. Williams is
listed as an outside linebacker, but some seem to think the Cougars could deploy
him as a safety, or potentially at the hybrid “nickel” spot that Hunter Dale’s
mastered this season. During St. John Bosco’s 2016 run to the CIF Open Division
state championship, Williams made 33 tackles.
Myles Green-Richards
Position: Defensive back
High school: Churchill (Eugene, Oregon)
Height/weight: 5-11, 175
Other P-5 offers: Oregon State
Green-Richards picked up interest on the recruiting trail
after clocking a 4.52 40-yard dash at The Opening regional competition in
Oakland this past spring. The hometown Ducks showed interest, but never offered
Green-Richards. Oregon State did, but Green-Richards gave a commitment to WSU
over the summer, even before he made a transfer from South Eugene High to
Churchill.
D’Angelo McKenzie
Position: Defensive back
High school: Valley Christian (San Jose, California)
Height/weight: 5-10, 165
Other P-5 offers: Arizona, Arizona State, Notre Dame, Oregon
State, UCLA, Utah
McKenzie told a few high-profile programs “no” when he told
WSU “yes.” Notre Dame included. A three-star defensive back with offers from
five other Pac-12 programs, McKenzie should be a weapon for Alex Grinch’s
secondary given that he can play both corner and safety. Although, Robert
Taylor’s departure might lead one to believe safety is more likely. Scout.com
recruiting director Brandon Huffman lists him as the fifth-best defensive back
on the west coast.
Kassidy Woods
Position: Wide receiver
High school: Greenhill School (Addison, Texas)
Height/weight: 6-2, 200
Other P-5 offers: Iowa State, Nebraska
One year after Jamire Calvin flipped from Nebraska to WSU on
National Signing Day, the Cougars got another receiver who was considering the
Cornhuskers to ink a Letter of Intent. Woods will enter the fray after a superb
senior season that saw him make 37 catches for 589 yards and eight touchdowns.
He visited WSU during the Cougars’ bye week and made his verbal commitment only
days later.
Ahmir Crowder
Position: Defensive line
High school: Crenshaw (Los Angeles)
Height/weight: 6-3, 280
Other P-5 offers: Purdue, Vanderbilt
Crowder’s been a two-way lineman for the Crenshaw Cougars,
but it looks like the WSU Cougars are interested in employing on the defensive
side – perhaps at tackle. Roy Manning’s recruiting helped WSU hold off the
likes of Purdue and Vanderbily for Crowder, who signs with the Cougars despite
not having taken his official visit yet.
RJ Stone
Position: Defensive line
High school: Valley Christian (San Jose, California)
Height/weight: 6-4, 215
Other P-5 offers: Arizona State, Oregon State, Utah
If it’s any indication how good Valley Christian’s defense
was, consider that WSU snapped up two members of it on Early Signing Day. The
Warriors pitched three shutouts and gave up 13.9 points per game en route to a
9-3 finish. Stone’s abilities as a pass-rusher were a big part of that. The
West Catholic Athletic League Defensive Lineman of the Year also has strong
football genes. His father Ron is the coach at Valley Christian and spent 12
years in the NFL, winning two Super Bowls with the Dallas Cowboys.
Drue Jackson
Position: Wide receiver
High school: Sachse (Sachse, Texas)
Height/weight: 6-1, 186
Other P-5 offers: Utah, Colorado, Connecticut, Duke,
Illinois, Louisville, Iowa, Iowa State, Oregon State, Texas Tech, Wisconsin.
The gem of this 2018 class? A four-star prospect according
to ESPN and other services, Jackson is the 66th ranked receiver of the 2018
class and had caught 24 passes for 393 yards and three touchdowns through seven
games when he committed to WSU in late October. Jackson spurned one of Leach’s
Air Raid disciples – Kliff Kingsbury and Texas Tech – and a handful of other
high majors by signing with the Cougars. Among this deep receiver class the
bringing in, it’s very possible the Sachse wideout is the most talented.
