When JC all-American Brandon Rankin committed to the Cougs last night, a lot of people got really excited -- myself included -- given our absolute inability to pressure the quarterback last season.
Turns out, it's a little early to get excited. Straight from Wulff, via Vince Grippi's signing day story on SportsLink:
(Rankin) has yet to qualify academically. The Cougars will offer Rankin, who will not play this fall, academic support this year in hopes he can enroll next spring.
“We will aid him through the process to do well academically,” Wulff said of one of the West Coast’s highest-rated pass rushers. “He’s a wonderful kid and a good person so he’s worth giving the time to.”
In other words, don't hold your breath. This would explain why the guy hadn't really been evaluated for supposedly being so awesome.
Coming on the heels of the sudden defection of Peter Tuitupou, who might also never step foot on campus again, it sounds like Wulff might have soured just a bit on the whole JC thing:
“It’s pretty evident the JC route doesn’t work, it’s not been a proven success,” Wulff said. “You’re not going to build a program through JCs. I’m here to build a program. We’re going to build a very good one, and it’s going to be done with high school players.
“We might sign an occasional one or two, but you just don’t build programs that way.”