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In a bit of unexpected news, Calvin Green -- a consensus three-star running back/wide receiver who is a senior at Luther Burbank High School in Sacramento, Calif. -- has signed a financial aid agreement with WSU and plans to enroll in school for the spring semester, the school announced Thursday night.
The signing takes advantage of a new NCAA interpretation which allows seniors on track to graduate by midyear to sign with a school months ahead of the traditional signing day in February. Green committed to WSU back in June and held offers from Arizona State, Colorado and Boise State, as well as a slew of midmajors.
As for what Green brings to WSU? He is a speedster in every sense of the word and will bring a dimension to the roster that it currently lacks.
While Rivals lists him as a running back, 247Sports lists him as wide receiver and all-purpose back, which actually sounds closer to how WSU views him at the moment.
"(Green) is a versatile player who can do a lot of things, explosive with the ball, and can play different positions," Leach said via news release. "He will also have the benefit of going through winter conditioning and spring practice as he adjusts to college life."
Brian Anderson spent some time watching Green's video, and came away with these impressions:
"Great one-cut bursts ... gets on the edge and gets upfield in a hurry. He reaches top-end speed quickly with near effortless acceleration, has great hands and route running to flat. Could easily project well to an H."
And in case you're curious, here's the full explanation of the new rule interpretation by the NCAA:
The academic and membership affairs staff determined that a prospective student-athlete who intends to graduate from high school midyear and enroll at a member institution midyear during the same academic year (e.g., spring semester) may sign an institutional financial aid agreement on or after August 1 of his or her senior year, provided the institution issuing the financial aid agreement establishes, prior to issuing the agreement, that the prospective student-athlete is enrolled in all coursework necessary to graduate from high school at midyear.
As near as we can tell, Green is just the third player nationally to take advantage of this new interpretation. It's unknown if WSU plans to sign any other players early who are currently committed to the 2014 class.
It's also worth noting that a financial aid agreement is non-binding for the athlete, merely guaranteeing the student's financial aid if he chooses to enroll. However, it seems unlikely Green would fail to show up in January.