Hot Cougar Action: Checking in with Demarcus Ayers

Demarcus Ayers, a WSU verbal commitment since June, was one of several players taking official visits to Pullman this past weekend. John Howell of Rivals.com caught up with Ayers following the visit and because the article is free, we can take a closer look at what Ayers had to say.

Ayers, who visited with his high school teammate Daeshon Hall, said he had a good time and had a chance to learn a lot about the academic side. Ayers is often listed as a wide receiver, but a conversation he had with Mike Leach made it clear that isn't the only place he may play at WSU.

"We had a sit down," Ayers said. "We just talked about the schedule and coming in and playing early and contributing to the program early as a receiver or a DB or being a return guy."

Alex Jackson and Rahmel Dockery have both gone the wide receiver to defensive back route. It seems as if this staff may just target explosive receivers, give them a shot to start out on offense and if they cant break the depth chart, move them to defense. If they work on offense, great you have Gabe Marks. If not, hooray for cornerback depth.

There is still a lot of time between now and signing day so there is always the question of how solid a player is in his commitment.

"I'm pretty solid," Ayers said. "I really had a good time. It made me feel like I didn't have to take any more visits because I had such a great time. But I think I'm still going to just to see what's out there. But I'm pretty much sold on Washington State. I got everything out of the trip that I expected and I didn't have anything I didn't like."

At least to me, that sounds like a player who looking to enjoy the recruiting process and take a few free trips rather than one looking for a better offer. Ayers said he is planning to take his remaining trips with Hall and they plan to visit Washington, West Virginia, Missouri and possibly LSU. Of those schools, Rivals lists Ayers with only an offer from WVU.

You can read Kyle's initial evaluation of Ayers here.

Football

Midseason report: Washington State - Pac-12 Blog - ESPN
Things have not gone to script in Pullman, Wash., so far this season. Maybe it was us for thinking that Mike Leach was going to be able to turn things around so quickly. After all, the pieces were in place -- or so we thought.

BearInsider.com - Washington State Rewound

When a team can run 50 times they rarely lose. The Bears finally scored first (at last!) and never looked back as they committed to the ground game to roll over the Cougars 31-17.

‘Big Game’ shows up early this season - Spokesman.com - Oct. 17, 2012

Take all the pageantry of "The Big Game" – the annual meeting between Stanford and California’s football teams – all of the tradition, the bitterness created by proximity, "The Play," all of it.

DeMarcus Ayers visits Wazzu for first time - NCFRecruitingMidlands - ESPN

Three-star athlete and Washington State commit DeMarcus Ayers (Lancaster, Texas/Lancaster) took an official visit to Pullman, Wash., over the weekend, taking in the Cougars’ clash against Cal and the overall Wazzu campus atmosphere.

Rivals.com Football Recruiting - Three-star teammates take in Washington State

When Lancaster, Texas athlete Demarcus Ayers committed to Washington State in June, he did so sight unseen. Over the weekend Ayers changed that, taking his official visit to check out the Washington State campus in Pullman, Wash., as the Cougars hosted Cal.

WSU Athletics

Cougar Soccer Travels to Bay Area - The Washington State University Official Athletic Site

Washington State soccer (9-4-1, 3-2-1 Pac-12) makes its final road trip of the regular season, traveling to California for a pair of conference matches...first, the Cougars will face Stanford in Stanford, Calif., Thursday, Oct 18 at 7:30 p.m...the match will be televised on the Pac-12 Networks...Sunday, Oct. 21, WSU will take on California in Berkeley, Calif., at noon...live stats for both matches will be available at wsucougars.com.