WSU Football Recruiting: Recruiting round-up

Last week, the Cougs lost their second commit of the year when WR Demarcus Ayers re-opened his recruitment. Ayers joins former verbal commit Trevor Walker as players who have changed their minds for one reason or another. The hiring of Eric Morris at Texas Tech was probably the last strike for WSU, as Morris recruited Ayers. Ayers spoke with ESPN and the interview was interesting, to say the least.

"Ayers had been monitoring Washington State and saw two red flags -- first, when receiver Marquess Wilson quit the team in November and wrote a letter alleging abuse by the Washington State coaching staff, and second, WSU coach Mike Leach’s Twitter ban for players."

Now, 17-year-olds change their minds all the damn time. Let's not begrudge a kid for deciding he wants to play elsewhere. But if those two "red flags" were really reasons why he left, then, uh, ok.

Ayers made sure to let everyone know that WSU isn't out of the running, and that he was just re-opening his recruitment. I doubt he winds up on the Palouse, and if Texas Tech offers, you gotta believe he accepts.

Let's check out some more recruiting related stuff via bullet points:

• Trevor Walker, as you may remember, decommitted in July amidst a quasi controversy with our pals over at Cougfan. They reported he was decommitting before he actually did because they read a report on ESPN. Apparently, his father said he wanted to play somewhere closer to his home in Texas, and was waiting for that offer from Oklahoma. Walker committed to the Washington Huskies last Friday. So ... yeah.

• Stars as indicators of future success are certainly not perfect. Guys rated 5 stars fail, and guys rated 2 stars shine. But I think it's silly to completely dismiss them altogether. For those that care, a few players were recently bumped up in star ratings by different services: River Cracraft: 3 stars, Scout; Matt Meyer: 3 stars, Scout; Lyman Faoliu: 3 stars, ESPN;Vince Mayle: 4 stars, ESPN

• With ESPN bumping Mayle to 4 stars, we now have three players rated that highly (Tyler Bruggman and Peyton Pelluer the other two). However, even with three 4 star players, and 21 players overall, WSU still doesn't crack the Top 40.

• Rivals has WSU at #44 overall, and 7th in the Pac-12. Scout has the Cougs at #45 overall and 8th in the Pac-12.

• I thought the Cougs had a shot at 4 star JC DE/LB Chris Martin, but he committed to Kansas last week. Damn you, Charlie Weis.

• Lastly, there is new senior video of DE/LB Malik Jenkins, and boy does he look good. Jenkins' junior tape wasn't bad, but he didn't stand out as someone particularly great at any one thing. After watching new video, though, I think he'd be an ideal candidate for the BUCK position in Mike Breske's defense. He has the instincts and range to play ILB in the 3-4 as well, and imaging him alongside Darryl Monroe in the middle is pretty exciting. Either way, the Cougs look to have quite a few good, young LBs to choose from in the coming years.
  

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