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In today’s college football recruiting landscape, it’s rare for a prospect to commit — and in this case sign — with a school twice, but it appears that’s exactly what’s in store for junior college cornerback Sean Harper Jr., who announced his verbal commitment to Washington State today.
“These past two years of my life has been a wide journey,” Harper tweeted. “But through all of this I have grew to learn that the strongest are the one’s who know how to react when adversity comes. I remained humble and kept my faith in God.
“With that said, I want to let all of my fans, friends and family members to know that I decided to take my talents to the Washington State University.”
You may recall that Harper, originally from Georgia, was a late addition to Washington State’s 2015 recruiting class having picked the Cougs over offers Louisville, Nebraska and several others, though he never arrived on campus and instead opted to go the junior college route.
A three-star prospect out of high school, Harper’s recruitment was slowed by academic issues, though Alex Grinch recruited Harper while the secondaries coach at Missouri, and just days after joining the WSU coaching staff, Grinch brought Harper aboard with one of the Cougars’ two open scholarships in the 2015 class.
After failing to qualify, Harper landed at Holmes Community College in Mississippi where he’s excelled at cornerback, tallying 21 tackles, two interceptions and four pass breakups as a sophomore this season. As a true freshman, Harper had two interceptions and 10 pass breakups.
Clearly, this is a guy Grinch really wanted to get on the Palouse. The 6-foot-2, 185-pound cornerback will have three years to play two at Washington State, and should immediately compete for playing time.
This is the second verbal commitment for Washington State in the last week, joining another defensive prospect from SEC country, B.J. Thompson, out of Arkansas. In total, Washington State now holds verbal commitments from 18 prospects, including four defensive backs.