WSU football recruiting: Fa’avae Fa’avae commits to the Cougars

WSU picked up a big recruiting win on Friday night when Fa’avae Fa’avae, a composite 3-star outside linebacker from Mater Dei High School in California, committed to the Cougars via radio broadcast on the Petros and Money Show.

He tweeted this shortly thereafter:

Fa’avae picked the Cougars over scholarship offers from Louisville, Arizona State, Colorado and Boise State. He suffered a knee injury shortly before the season started, but that didn’t deter those schools from batting hard for his commitment, with the Cougars ending up on top.

“There were three main factors in committing (to Washington State),” Fa’avae said. “The first was academics, going to a great school that has a great academic platform for my degree that I want to major in, business. Second is playing as a true freshman, playing early, getting out there with the boys and getting my feet wet. Last but not least is building long-term great relationships with empowering entrepreneurs. Paul Allen, co-owner of Microsoft, and Jack Thompson, the Throwin’ Samoan.”

He continued: “Washington State is dominating the Pac-12 right now, I believe they’re 23 overall in ESPN rankings, they’re leading the Pac-12, three big wins in a row. And playing time is great, getting out there early.”

You might have noticed he mentioned early playing time twice; he confirmed that his primary recruiters — Ken Wilson, Dave Nichol and Joe Salave’a — clearly communicated that he’d have an opportunity to play right away. “That was huge,” he said.

He’ll be taking his official visit on December 9. It’s the only visit he’s taking.

In the Cougars’ system under defensive coordinator Alex Grinch, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see Fa’avae land at the rush linebacker spot, given his propensity for rushing the quarterback at the high school level — he had 12.5 sacks as a junior for one of Southern California’s powerhouse programs:

You can watch his commitment via this Periscope recording; however, the audio is soft in spots. You can listen more clearly to his full segment here:

Congrats, Fa’avae, and Go Cougs!