WSU makes Nathan Rawlins-Kibonge’s top 8 ... in football

Washington State basketball is in Nathan Rawlins-Kibonge’s top one. Washington State football is in Rawlins-Kibonge’s top eight.

The WSU hoops commit has blown up as a football recruit, but the Cougars remain in the mix on the football side.

If you haven’t been following along, here is the quick backstory. A year ago, Rawlins-Kibonge was simply a basketball recruit and committed to Kyle Smith and the Cougs in June, ahead of his junior season. It’s not unusual for recruits to garner more attention later in their high school careers and that happened with Rawlins-Kibonge. Except his path was a little different. Last fall, Rawlins-Kibonge joined the football team at Jefferson High School in Portland. It turned out he was pretty good at football.

After one season of playing football, Rawlins-Kibonge became a 4-star defensive end recruit. The offers from the Pac-12 and around the country have come in. That includes Nick Rolovich’s Cougars.

We could still see Rawlins-Kobonge playing both sports in Pullman, but the Cougars will have to fend off a lot more competition.

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Football:

Five implications of a lost spring for Washington State’s football program | The Spokesman-Review
Until they open the season, and truthfully not until they finish it, will we be able to determine how the Washington State Cougars suffered from the lack of a spring camp.

Two-sport athlete Nathan Rawlings-Kibonge lists Washington State in top-eight list for football | SWX Right Now - Sports for Spokane, CdA, Tri-Cities, WA
Since Nathan Rawlins-Kibonge committed to Kyle Smith and Washington State last summer, the 6-foot-7, 240-pound prospect basketball prospect from Portland’s Jefferson High took up football and quickly established himself as one of the top defensive ends in the state, if not the country.

Baseball:

Project: BTO starting to take shape at Washington State | Sports | lmtribune.com
Although he was wearing a hard hat instead of a baseball cap and a work vest instead of his uniform, Washington State baseball coach Brian Green was just happy to be sharing some good news.