COUG COMMIT: WR Marquess Wilson
So much for the thought that the Cougs might be done with skill guys. Marquess Wilson, the Cougs' 15th known verbal commitment, is an athletic, rangy wide receiver out of Tulare, Calif., who stands 6-foot-3 and 170 pounds, and is listed as a three-star recruit by both Scout.com and Rivals.
The Scout.com combine reports him as running the 40-yard dash in 4.67 and Rivals has him at 4.69, numbers that aren't exactly going to "wow" anyone. But to look only at his 40 time would be to overlook his greatest assets -- namely his long arms and incredible leaping ability.
Put simply, Wilson is a guy who goes and gets the ball. A track athlete who cleared 6-foot-8 in the high jump last year, Wilson's coach described his game this way at the end of last season:
Anytime we got inside the 20, we'd throw it up and he'd go get it, that was part of our game. He was 6-3, yet we could throw the hitch, he'd plant and go because of his speed. He reminds you of those USC receivers the way he can go up and catch in the end zone and make moves like a little guy. He's just a great all-around receiver, and if he continues to stay on track academically, he'll be like [former Lemoore High and current USC receiver David Ausberry]; he'll be in the Pac-10.
I don't know if academics are a concern at this point, but all indications are good.
Rivals has some combine video, embedded below. Wilson comes up at about 1:20 mark, and one thing you'll notice right away -- with the enormous caveat that this is an extremely small look at Wilson -- is that he doesn't appear as refined as a receiver as another Coug Commit, Bobby Ratliff.
It wouldn't shock me at all if Wilson is the sort of player who redshirts his first year, especially with all the youth already at the wide receiver position. He seems like the kind of guy who would really benefit from a year to refine his skills.
One thing I love about this signing? Check out the four receivers that are in this class (in alphabetical order):
- Blair Bomber, 5-9/165, 4.40
- Robert Jiles, 6-0/185, 4.47
- Bobby Ratliff, 6-1/180 (no 40 time listed)
- Marquess Wilson, 6-3/170, 4.69
This is a well-rounded group where each player brings something unique to the table. Bomber can stretch the field, Ratliff is a route runner extraordinaire, Jiles is an all-around talent, and Wilson is a red-zone machine.
One interesting note, as pointed out in spokanecougar's FanPost: Eight guys tripped to the Stanford game; seven of those eight have now verbally committed to the Cougs. What the heck did they tell those guys on that weekend? The big prize in that group is four-star safety Erick Dargan, who is the only one to not have committed yet, but two of his teammates were also in that group and have committed to the Cougs. Here's to hoping they're still working on him.
In looking at how the class is shaping up, there are now four wide recievers, six cornerbacks/safeties, three tight ends, a quarterback and a tackle. With just eight to 10 spots remaining, one has to believe linemen are on the way.
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great pickup for wsu
we should be able to have a winning record next year ? also if you want to see what happens w/ an injured o-line – look at the cougar point production and now the seahawks..
"we should be able to have a winning record next year ? "
Hold your horses, dude. Let’s get a few wins under our belts first.
We've had way more talent on teams and not posted a winning record.
See ‘04-’07.
CougCenter WSU's second main blog
by Craig Powers on Oct 19, 2009 7:33 AM PDT up reply actions
This one's not done yet
Wilson says he is still going to take visits to ASU and SDSU, so this is just a soft verbal. Hopefully, he will firm this up in the future.
Unless there's some family connection to SDSU ...
I don’t see where he’s taking that trip for any other reason than to get a free trip to San Diego. (For which I wouldn’t blame him.) As for ASU, that does worry me a bit, but Wulff and Co. have shown a tremendous ability to close the deal. It sounds like ASU is making a late run at him, and Wulff has generally been able to hang on to those kinds of guys.
by Jeff Nusser on Oct 19, 2009 10:18 AM PDT up reply actions
I don't disagree
But, by definition since he is going on more trips makes him a soft verbal. We have seen solid verbals decommit in the past, so until February we really never know.
Regarding SDSU and ASU, players make their decision where to attend based on emotion, not logic. If he still trips, you never know what can happen, even at SDSU.
Where players project?
A few players project to different positions from high school. I have seen posts on the different sites that project Jake Rodgers from TE to OL/DL (mostly OT), Deone Bucannon from S to OLB, and Aaron Dunn could play either TE or DE. Dunn could also grow into a d-tackle down the line.
I like what they are doing at receiver. Great if they bring them all in but they have some coverage if they lose a couple. Along with Wilson, Ratliffe is considered a potential target by other programs. Wilson might take more time than Ratliff (thx for the combine video) but Wilson reminds me a bit of Mylton Wynn going back a few years. He’s not a blazer but very long and a matchup nightmare for many dbs if he can learn to use his body well on the Pac 10 level. I love big receivers with long arms.
There were flight risks in last years class and Wulff managed to keep everyone other than Meinken who bolted for Stanford and academics. He was able to keep Simone, Washington, Locker, and most likely Tuel in the fold. I’m sure others had options but stuck to their committments. The thing I like is that they are connecting kids well. It’s not just the staff working on these kids but players already at WSU and who are strong commits in the class itself. The “family” element is an important element in WSUs recruiting.
All that said, Wulff has a tough job ahead of him this year. Some of the commits feel a bit looser in this class. They have done a really nice job so far this year though. The class is shaping up very well if they can find a few more linemen and some JC help. Daragan is the guy they are holding out for until the end.
Projections
It’s so tough to know. I’m sure the coaching staff has an idea of what they want, but speculating on our part seems rather futile. I mean, who in the world would have thought of Louis Bland as a linebacker? That said, there are some moves that would surprise me, based on the information out there and what I know of the team’s needs. I don’t see any of the receivers switching (they all look like receivers to me) and I don’t see Dunn on defense (we need IMMEDIATE help at tight end).
I know what you mean about these feeling a little loose. I think a lot of it has to do with how early the commits are, as well as the second consecutive shaky year. It sure would be nice to have a big, televised win to hang our hats on …
by Jeff Nusser on Oct 19, 2009 11:28 AM PDT up reply actions
I hope we see an influx of lineman
both offensive and defensive. While I love getting skill position guys in the WR/DB mold, we need ‘hog mollies’/‘buffet busters’ up front. I’ve always believed a team should be built from the inside out. If you have a poor interior line on both sides of the ball, it doesnt matter how good you are everywhere else, things aren’t going to go as planned.
So can we get some O-Linemen please? And a DT or two.
No kidding
It seems crazy to me. I understand our need for DBs, but we don’t seem nearly as thin at WR as we are on both sides of the line. Our O- and D-line have huge glaring holes,and yet we haven’t really recruited anyone for them yet. Maybe we have a bunch of players we are going after who haven’t committed yet, but it still seems like an inconsistency to me.
by displacedcoug on Oct 19, 2009 2:07 PM PDT up reply actions
One thing to remember is that we're thin on the line ...
… because we have a bunch of lineman who haven’t developed yet, not because we don’t have a bunch of linemen. Only one of our two deep on the o-line (Kenny Alfred) graduates. There are only three juniors on the two-deep (Micah Hannam, Joe Eppele and Brian Danaher). They could easily get by with only recruiting a handful of offensive linemen.
Defense is a different story, though.
Receiver depth
Forzani, Solomon, and Blackledge are all juniors and of course Anderson is done so they really need to add receivers for beyond next season. According to the sites they are after 2-3 guards and at least a couple d-tackles. No question they have to add both to this class but sometimes linemen take longer to decide.
Cal is going hard after Dunn
and trying to lull him away from Wazzu, however I dont think that should be a big worry of ours as Dunn is one of the earliest Wazzu verbals in years..
He wants to stay home
He’s not going anywhere.
by Jeff Nusser on Oct 19, 2009 12:48 PM PDT up reply actions
I still can't believe we missed out on Trufant.
I want to hate Desmond Trufant, but I can’t. And it really pains me to say so, but he’s going to be really, really good.
Seattle kids are tough to pull away from the UW
WSU recognized Trufant projected (there’s that word again) to corner before anyone else. The UW came in late but couldn’t turn him around even though some have said he always wanted to go to the UW. So it probably wasn’t too big of a surprise Desmond Trufant would go purple.
Keep in mind Nolan Washington was considered as good or a better prospect than Trufant. Time will tell.
I just got the feeling Trufant wanted to do his own thing
Plus, I remember Walden saying — in a purely speculative moment (hard to believe, I know) on KJR — that as the baby of the family, he didn’t want to stray too far from home. He said the same thing about Dunn, I believe. Called him a mama’s boy (in the nicest possible way) and said he just wanted to be close to home.
Good point on both Trufant and Dunn
Wulff is doing a good job in Spokane and the Spokane kids are signing up for WSU even with the mess going on right now. Not missing area prospects is crucial for WSU. You can’t let the Kellen Moore’s who grew up Cougs out of your backyard. All these kids most likely lean toward the WSU side. Different sport but Briann January in women’s hoops grew up and still is a huge Cougar fan but went with ASU because of things were so bad in Pullman at the time. Oregon’s OLM York grew up a Coug as well but was pulled away by Oregon. Those are huge misses you don’t want to see too often.
I remember the “mama’s boy” comment from Walden as well. I missed whether he was talking about Halliday or Dunn though so thx for filling that in for me. Halliday will probably get a push from some programs as well especially if he keeps playing the way he has this season.

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