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Former Texas A&M wide receiver and consensus 4-star recruit Sebastian LaRue is transferring to WSU. Cougfan was the first to report the news and several outlets have since confirmed.
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LaRue was an elite prospect coming out of high school last year. According to the consensus rankings from 247sports. LaRue was the No. 17 wide receiver prospect in the country and the No. 16 prospect in the state of California. As Britton Ransford noted, LaRue's offer list included offers from Notre Dame, Michigan, Ohio State and the entire Pac-12 except for Oregon. LaRue officially visited WSU last year and said he liked Mike Leach and the offense. The Cougars were a finalist, but he ultimately landed at Texas A&M.
After one season with the Aggies, LaRue decided to transfer. He said he wanted to transfer to be closer to home and the general thought was he might land at USC or UCLA. Instead, he's coming to WSU. Technically, Pullman is about 400 miles closer to Southern California than College Station is, so there is that. Regardless of the reasoning, this is a major coup for the Cougars. Typically, transfers would be required to sit out a season before being eligible. That would mean LaRue would sit out next season then have three years to play three beginning in 2015. LaRue will attempt to get on the field sooner, however, according to Bruce Feldman.
Touted Texas A&M WR transfer Sebastian LaRue is expected to file an appeal to be eligible to play in 2014 at #WashingtonState.
— Bruce Feldman (@BFeldmanCBS) January 19, 2014
Players have been awarded instant eligibility, but it usually involves moving closer to home for a family situation or some sort of hardship. We don't know what LaRue's appeal will be based on, but knowing the NCAA, it seems unlikely he'd be eligible next season. It doesn't hurt to try and in the wost-case scenario LaRue will be eligible in 2015.
So how does LaRue fit into WSU's plans? WSU currently has 10 scholarship wide receivers on the roster, with another two verbally committed. Four of those, however, will graduate next season. That is going to leave a lot of playing time up for grabs in 2015 and it wouldn't be a surprise to see LaRue grab a big chunk of it. Some of it will depend on if he lands inside or outside, but at the very least he's likely to be in the two-deep.
We'll have to wait and see how it all plays out on the field, but for now, you can just sit back and enjoy his high school highlights. When LaRue took an official to WSU, Brian Floyd and I were in the SB Nation newsroom. I think we spent about 30 minutes gushing over his highlights and hoping he wouldn't land at USC. As the WSU football twitter feed likes to say, today is a great day to be a WSU Coug.
