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Here we are again! It’s that magical time of year where hardcore WSU football fans get unnecessarily angry — or hopefully happy! — over fax machines and 17-year-olds.
If you were around CougCenter last year, you are probably familiar with the Big Board. Basically, this will be your one-stop shop for all WSU recruiting news as it happens. Below you’ll see each position is broken down with commitments, targets and notes.
For counting purposes, WSU currently has 24 prospects signed or committed in the 2017 recruiting class, which is expected to reach 26 signees when it’s all said and done.
All real time recruiting updates will be posted in a space I’ll create right below these words, so check back often, if that’s your thing. Here’s a link to the offensive big board.
February 1 Updates:
- The lone defensive tackle prospect still on the board for Washington State — Miki Sugurataga — committed to Hawaii today. He has been removed from the big board.
- Another Hawaii prospect — Christian Mejia — will sign with WSU today despite a late push from Hawaii at the last minute. His fax should be coming in momentarily.
MEJIA NLI IS IN
- Still waiting on a letter of intent from Kelle Sanders. He has been hard to reach in recent weeks and also took an official visit to Utah, in addition to a Missouri offer.
WSU 2017 Defensive Big Board (15)
| Pos. | Name | Hometown | Ht/Wt | Stars | Visit | Commit | Offers |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pos. | Name | Hometown | Ht/Wt | Stars | Visit | Commit | Offers |
| DE | Will Rodgers | Highlands Ranch, Colo. | 6-5/230 | *** | Yes | NLI | Michigan St., Arizona |
| DE | Kelle Sanders | Olympia, Wash. | 6-5/230 | *** | Yes | Yes | Mizzou, Utah |
| DE | Dallas Hobbs | Cedar Rapids, Iowa | 6-6/240 | ** | Yes | NLI | UConn |
| DE | Preston Hendry | Costa Mesa, Calif. | 6-5/235 | *** | Yes | NLI | ASU, Baylor, KSU |
| DE | Christian Mejia | Kailua, Hawaii | 6-3/220 | *** | Yes | NLI | Hawaii, Vandy |
| LB | Willie Taylor | Cochran, Ga. | 6-4/210 | ** | Yes | NLI | Georgia St. |
| LB | Faavae Faavae | Santa Ana, Calif. | 6-1/210 | *** | Yes | NLI | ASU, BSU, Colorado |
| LB | Cole Dubots | Murietta, Calif. | 6-1/185 | *** | Yes | NLI | Oregon State |
| S | Josh Talbott | Long Beach, Calif. | 6-0/175 | *** | Yes | NLI | Florida, Oregon, UCLA |
| S | Damion Lee | Palm Springs, Calif. | 6-1/180 | *** | Yes | NLI | BYU |
| S | Dominick Silvels | San Diego, Calif. | 6-3/190 | ** | Yes | NLI | Nevada, SJSU, USU |
| CB | Zaire Webb | Neptune Beach, Fla. | 5-10/165 | ** | Yes | NLI | UNC, BYU |
| CB | George Hicks | San Bernardino, Calif. | 6-0/180 | *** | Yes | NLI | BSU, SDSU, SJSU |
| CB | Sean Harper | Goodman, Miss. | 6-2/185 | *** | Yes | NLI | Cincy, UNC |
| CB | Isaiah Love | West Covina, Calif. | 5-11/165 | *** | Yes | NLI | Greyshirt |
Defensive Tackle (0 of 1)
For the second year in a row, Washington State does not (yet) have a defensive tackle recruit committed or signed. Is this by design? Grinch wants to get faster on defense, obviously, but as of right now, WSU has just two bodies really capable of playing nose.
It looks like the only defensive tackle type WSU is after currently is Miki Suguturaga, a 6-foot-5, 260-pounder from Honolulu, Hawaii. At that size, he doesn’t really fit that bowling ball-type frame you’d ideally at nose, but big bodies on the defensive line are hard to come by. The Cougs are battling Utah for Suguturaga and it appears the Utes are the favorite heading into Signing Day. The Hawaiian was recruited by Joe Salave’a.
Defensive End (5 of 5)
Washington State loaded up on defensive end and RUSH linebacker prospects in this class, currently holding five verbal commitments with a few days left until Signing Day.
A flurry a recent commitments from Christian Mejia, Dallas Hobbs and Willie Rodgers, in addition to previous verbal commitments from junior college defensive end Preston Hendry and in-state product Kelle Sanders makes it hard to believe WSU will take any additional defensive ends in this class.
Will all of them ultimately sign? It appears that Mejia, Hobbs, Rodgers and Preston are locked in. You can expect them to sign on the dotted line Wednesday morning, however Sanders is a name to watch. Utah jumped into the mix recently and Sanders ended up taking an official visit there. Should Sanders flip, WSU may just take four.
Linebacker (3 of 3)
Again, Washington State is likely done here. It appears they’ll stick with Faavae Faavae, Cole Dubots and newly committed Willie Taylor at linebacker. Dubots is listed by several services as a running back, but it’s been widely reported that he’ll line up at linebacker or nickel on the Palouse.
Safety (3 of 3)
The Cougs landed one of the top defensive back prospects in the West in Josh Talbott, who held national offers from the likes of Oklahoma, Florida, Texas A&M, UCLA, Oregon and many others. Talbott took an official visit to WSU and has not visited anywhere else. It’s safe to assume he’ll be signing with the Cougs on Wednesday. Meanwhile, two others — Damion Lee and Dominick Silvels — are also expected to sign. It appears WSU is done recruiting here, as well.
Cornerback (4 of 4)
New position, same story. WSU has essentially filled up their cornerback spots, as well. Zaire Webb and Isaiah Love, a greyshirt from the 2016 class, are already on campus. George Hicks took an official visit in December and is expected to sign. As is Sean Harper, who previously committed to WSU in the 2015 class, but went the JUCO route.
If you have any questions, feel free to drop them in the comments and I’ll do my best to answer them.