A couple of weeks ago, Fotu Leiato was a fairly unheralded recruit with offers from Wyoming, Idaho, Eastern Washington, Montana, Weber State and Montana State. Washington State offered on Dec. 1 and that offer triggered a lot of change.
Brian Anderson wrote this post about Leiato's absurd highlights on Dec. 2. The post went viral with more than 22,000 Facebook shares. Leiato's highlight started racking up views, eventually becoming the most-watched Hudl video in history for a brief period. All of a sudden, Leiato was unheralded no more. With more and more coaches seeing him lay waste to about everyone, offers started rolling in. San Diego State offered next and Nevada followed suit not long after.
Things have turned up another notch recently. UCLA offered on Dec. 10 and Oklahoma joined the Bruins with an offer last night. That leaves Leiato with 11 scholarship offers, four of which have come since the Cougars offered. The Cougars ramped up their pursuit as well, sending Joe Salave'a and Ken Wilson for an in-home visit. Salave'a and Wilson are probably the best two recruiters on the staff.
This isn't the first time WSU has found increased competition for a recruit from a highlight video. Miami flipped tight end Asante Cleveland a few years ago after Hurricane coaches saw Cleveland's highlights on YouTube. We'll have to wait and see if WSU ends up on the winning side this time. until then, enjoy Leiato's highlights again.
Men's basketball:
Ernie Kent Q&A: getting their legs back - SportsLink - Spokesman.com - Dec. 15, 2014
Ernie Kent addressed the media today while his team takes what is, in his opinion, a much-needed break to focus on finals.
Women's basketball:
Presley Named Pac-12 Player of the Week - Washington State University Official Athletic Site
Washington State senior guard Tia Presley has been named the Pac-12 Conference Player of the Week, the conference office announced Monday.
Football:
Morning links: All quiet on the coaching front - SportsLink - Spokesman.com - Dec. 15, 2014
We enter the third week of WSU's search for a defensive coordinator with nary a peep about who the Cougars may hire.