Huge recruiting weekend on tap for WSU

Official visit season has now begun in the Palouse! Mike Leach and the staff will be welcoming a whopping 9 recruits this weekend. The team has decided this year to not do official visits on game days, so expect big recruiting weekends from here on out.

There are couple of kids already committed and a surprising few committed to other schools. It's a sign of  the cachet that WSU has built this year that these kids are visiting here despite giving their word to other top programs. Here is a list of recruits expected in the Palouse Friday.

Two of the players listed above, defensive back Isaiah Love and offensive tackle Keenen King, are already committed to the Cougars. You can find highlights and info on King here, as well as a nice scouting report on Love here. Hopefully this visit will only strengthen the commitment of these future Cougs as we get closer to signing day.

I profiled one of these visitors earlier this year on CougCenter. Here is some info and video on promising defensive end Lyric Bartley. He would be a great get for WSU.

Some interesting junior college players are also making their way to Pullman. Avery Jordan is the younger brother of DeAndre Jordan and holds an offer from Fresno State. He looks like has the ideal frame for the Air Raid offense. The former basketball player could make for quite the left tackle. I'd like to see him come to WSU if only to have DeAndre kicking it in Pullman.

Robert Taylor is a promising defensive back from the same program that gave us Shalom Luani. He holds offers from West Virginia, WSU and Purdue and looks like he could come in right away and strengthen an already emerging Cougar secondary.

As usual the Air Raid offense is attracting top pass-catchers to Cougville. Three big-time wideouts are in town this weekend.

Dezmon Patmon is big target out of San Diego who has offers from Colorado and Cal. One of the top 100 players in the state of California, Patmon looks to be a prototype X receiver for Mike Leach.

Isaiah Johnson is a stud receiver out of Florida who is currently committed to the Gators. He is friends with Tavares Martin Jr. and it would be a real coup if the staff could get him to flip.

The third wideout who will be in town is Trevon Bradford. He is an Oregon State commit who may be having second thoughts about heading to Corvallis. He received his offer from WSU after his commitment and has remained interested ever since. The Cougars high-octane offense seems to be a big selling point for him.

The final visitor this weekend is Derriyon Shaw. Shaw has made a commitment to Boise State, but has received multiple Pac-12 offers. Let's hope the lure of big-time Power 5 football can bring this talented pass-rusher into the Cougar fold.

Britton Ransford's recruiting notes:

Mike Leach and the Washington State assistants were on the road this week for in-home visits. Leach, as you may recall, is only allowed one in-home visit per prospect, while the assistant coaches can visit a prospect up to six times throughout their recruitment.

One of several prospects Leach used his in-home visit with was Ventura (Calif.) C.C. offensive lineman Tyson Rising, a 6-foot-4, 280-pound tackle prospect. Graham Harrell and Coach McGuire joined Leach on the visit. Rising will visit Arizona State this weekend and has said he plans on visiting Washington State, as well. Rising's younger brother, Cameron, is a top dual-threat quarterback in the 2018 class with a WSU offer.

Prior to taking a flight to Pullman today, Robert Taylor hosted Alex Grinch and Jim Mastro for an in-home visit last night. The 5-foot-11, 180-pound cornerback also holds offers from Purdue and West Virginia, but the Cougars look good here, especially with location being a factor.

Coach Joe Salave'a was making the rounds in Hawaii today, first stopping by Kapolei to see Sean Auwae, a three-star center ranked No. 4 in the country. The 6-foot-3, 296-pound center recently de-committed from UCLA and immediately set up an official visit to Pullman for January 22 along with Stanford offensive guard commit Nate Herbig. In addition to WSU, Auwae holds offers from Utah, Washington, Vanderbilt, Texas Tech, Oregon State, BYU and several others.

Honolulu (HI) Kamehameha School linebacker Tainoa Foster received a visit from Salave'a last night. The 6-foot-3, 205-pound inside linebacker is rated two-stars by Scout.com and also holds offers from Fresno State, Hawaii and Utah State.

Washington State was one of two finalists for Riverside (Calif.) C.C. linebacker A.J. Hotchkins, widely regarded as one of the top junior college inside linebacker prospects in the country, however the three-star committed to Oregon while on an official visit last weekend. The Tigard, Ore., native had a visit to WSU set up for this weekend.

Murray (UT) Cottonwood outside linebacker Pookie Maka released a top-five list on Thursday night and Washington State made the cut along with Utah, Colorado, Arizona State and BYU. The 6-foot-3, 200-pound linebacker is rated three-stars by Rivals.com and ranked the No. 38 overall outside linebacker in the country. Maka also holds offers from Wisconsin, Washington, Oregon State, Missouri and others.

From last night, the Cougars landed a verbal commitment from Tulare (Calif.) Union running back Romello Harris, a three-star prospect. Harris committed while hosting WSU assistants Graham Harrell and Clay McGuire. The Cougars are only expected to take one running back in this cycle, and Harris fits the mold perfectly.

Updated (Friday, December 4 at 2:00 p.m)

I'll be passing along a few more recruiting notes as the day goes on, but we'll start with recent offers handed out over the last week, many of which went to 2017 prospects, but one junior college defensive end received a huge offers from the Cougars staff.

Garrett McBroom, a 6-foot-3, 260-pound defensive end prospect out of Miami (OK) Northeastern Oklahoma A&M picked up an offer from the Cougars on Tuesday. McBroom is unrated by Rivals and Scout, but holds an offer from Purdue in addition to Washington State. McBroom will visit WSU next weekend. You can check out his film here.

According to the Hawaii Prep World, Tainoa Foster, who I noted above, will officially visit Washington State on January 15. The inside linebacker will also visit Utah State and Fresno State this month. Foster will be joined on his official visit by his Kamehameha teammate, Keoni-Kordell Makekau, a 5-foot-11, 170-pound receiver prospect with offers from WSU, Hawaii and San Jose State.

The Washington State staff, led by area recruiter Roy Manning, was busy in Southern California this week. Buena Park (Calif.) 2017 cornerback Elijiah Gates received an offer from the Cougs, who also offered his teammate, Jeremiah Hawkins, a three-star 2017 athlete.

The Cougars extended an offer to Los Angeles (Calif.) Cathedral defensive end Hunter Echols, who also picked up offers from UCLA and Utah. UCLA commit Rhedi Short, a 2017 safety prospect also out of Cathedral, received an offer from the Cougars, as well.

Former Michigan offensive tackle Logan Tuley-Tillman is receiving interest from Washington State, I've been told. Cougfan.com is hearing the same and the former blue chip prospect could be close to an offer. Tuley-Tillman says he's received plenty of interest since being dismissed from the Wolverines program, including offers from Houston, South Florida, Texas Tech, Louisville, Ole Miss and several others.

UPDATE: Tuley-Tillman picked up an offer from Washington State a few minutes ago.

The 6-foot-7, 310-pound tackle was rated four-stars by Rivals.com out of the 2013 class, choosing the Wolverines over offers from Alabama, Florida State, Ohio State, Notre Dame, USC and many others. He's going to be a graduate transfer in June with two years of eligibility left, which is very rare. The Cougars could have an inside track to Tuley Tillman, should they decide to offer, as outside linebackers coach Roy Manning played a part in his recruitment while on staff in Ann Arbor.