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The graduate transfer of former Eastern Washington quarterback Gage Gubrud to the Washington State Cougars is now officially on, as the school announced this morning via Twitter that Gubrud had been added to the 2019 recruiting class.
And the final piece of the Class of 2019 is in! Welcome to the WSU Cougar Family, @Gagegubs! #GoCougs #JoinTheHunt
— WSU Cougar Football (@WSUCougFB) February 9, 2019
It had been reported that Gubrud had initially been denied a sixth season of eligibility by the NCAA — he missed most of this past season season with an injury — but he has won his appeal for a medical hardship waiver and will join the chase this summer to replace Gardner Minshew II as the Cougars’ starting quarterback.
There’s also more good news for the Cougars: According to the school, Gubrud has already earned his bachelor’s degree and is enrolling at WSU immediately, which means he will be eligible to participate in spring practices.
“We are excited for Gage to come in and compete with the quarterbacks on our team,” Mike Leach said via news release. “He is an extremely experienced and productive player who led Eastern Washington to great heights in his time there. It’s not often that you can add a quarterback to your roster that has started 28 games and thrown for nearly 10,000 yards. We are looking forward to getting him on campus and finishing his collegiate career in a WSU Cougar uniform.”
Gubrud had an excellent career at EWU; in addition to all those yards, he threw for 87 touchdowns and 8.6 yards per attempt, also adding more than 1,000 rushing yards. He’ll be joining a crowded quarterback competition that will likely feature redshirt seniors Trey Tinsley and Anthony Gordon (each of whom might have been the starter had something happened to Minshew) and redshirt freshman Cammon Cooper, WSU’s most heralded QB recruit under Mike Leach. Perhaps Connor Neville, John Bledsoe or incoming freshman Gunner Cruz can work their way into that mix, but it’s considered unlikely.
One other interesting thing about that tweet — it says Gubrud is the “final piece” of the 2019 class. By our count, WSU still has a scholarship to give. Maybe there’s some accounting going on that we don’t know about (for example, Oscar Draguicevich III has reportedly been given a scholarship, and sometimes giving a walk-on a scholarship counts against the initial 25 scholarships that can be given in a year), or maybe whoever’s running the social media account just phrased it badly.
Whatever the case, here’s the incoming class as we know it:
2019 WSU football recruiting commitments
Player | Expected Pos. | 247 Composite | Composite Value | NLI received? | Enrolled Early? | Measurables (via 247) | Commit Date | City | State | CougCenter Profile | Comments |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Player | Expected Pos. | 247 Composite | Composite Value | NLI received? | Enrolled Early? | Measurables (via 247) | Commit Date | City | State | CougCenter Profile | Comments |
Travion Brown | LB | ✯✯✯ | 0.8748 | YES | NO | 6-3/215 | 10/2/18 | Temecula | CA | Link | Rated four stars by 247sports evaluators |
Jamir Thomas | RB | ✯✯✯ | 0.8676 | YES | NO | 6-1/215 | 11/27/18 | Massillon | OH | Link | Ranked as a LB, converted to RB as a senior |
Gunner Cruz | QB | ✯✯✯ | 0.8607 | YES | YES | 6-4.5/215 | 5/31/18 | Queen Creek | AZ | Link | Threw for 5700 yards and 70 TDs as soph/jr |
Bryce Beekman | DB | ✯✯✯ | 0.8582 | YES | YES | 6-2/190 | 11/20/18 | Yuma | AZ | Link | Teammate of OL commit Dontae Powell |
Jouvensly Bazile | RB | ✯✯✯ | 0.8540 | YES | NO | 5-10/180 | 6/28/18 | Naples | FL | Link | Has reportedly clocked 10.98 in 100 meters |
Patrick Utschinski | OL | ✯✯✯ | 0.8537 | YES | NO | 6-7/280 | 9/10/18 | Walla Walla | WA | Link | Rated four stars by 247sports evaluators |
Konner Gomness | OL | ✯✯✯ | 0.8532 | YES | NO | 6-4/270 | 9/29/18 | Fresno | CA | Link | Reported offer from Louisville and lots of midmajors |
Billy Pospisil | WR | ✯✯✯ | 0.8463 | YES | YES | 5-11/190 | 2/16/18 | Arvada | CO | Attends same high school as 2018 signee Max Borghi | |
Armauni Archie | DB | ✯✯✯ | 0.8456 | YES | NO | 6-1/175 | 10/12/18 | El Cerrito | CA | Link | Chose WSU over an offer from Nebraska |
Derrick Langford | DB | ✯✯✯ | 0.8448 | YES | YES | 6-2/185 | 11/15/18 | San Francisco | CA | Link | Juco who has four to play three |
Tyler Garay-Harris | DL | ✯✯✯ | 0.8444 | YES | NO | 6-5/230 | 11/4/18 | Oakland | CA | Link | Offers from Utah and ASU |
Donovan Ollie | WR | ✯✯✯ | 0.8431 | YES | NO | 6-3/205 | 10/15/18 | Wylie | TX | Link | Chose WSU over Iowa State and Utah |
Peni Naulu | LB | ✯✯✯ | 0.8423 | YES | NO | 6-1/210 | 9/6/18 | Kapolei | HI | Link | Other offers: UW, Oregon, UCLA, Cal, Nebraska |
Cosmas Kwete | DL | ✯✯✯ | 0.8418 | YES | NO | 6-3/220 | 11/5/18 | Phoenix | AZ | Link | Inexperienced player, specialized in Rugby |
Daniel Isom | DB | ✯✯✯ | 0.8407 | YES | YES | 5-10/180 | 11/8/18 | Council Bluffs | IA | Link | Played as a true freshman for NIU before transfer |
Rocky Katoanga | LB | ✯✯✯ | 0.8366 | YES | YES | 6-2/205 | 2/6/18 | Oceanside | CA | Grayshirted | |
Jimmy Price | OL | ✯✯✯ | 0.8306 | YES | NO | 6-5/295 | 1/26/19 | Houston | TX | Link | Picked WSU over Arizona State |
Shahman Moore | DB | ✯✯✯ | 0.8267 | YES | YES | 6-0/170 | 12/20/18 | El Segundo | CA | Link | Two years of eligibility remaining |
Ma'ake Fifita | OL | ✯✯✯ | 0.8154 | YES | NO | 6-5/250 | 12/16/18 | Snohomish | WA | Link | Staff targeted him as a center |
Gatlin Grisso | DB | ✯✯✯ | 0.8072 | YES | YES | 6-1/185 | 6/23/17 | Aubrey | TX | Link | Grayshirted |
Nicholas Sheetz | DL | ✯✯✯ | 0.8072 | YES | NO | 6-3/253 | 2/3/19 | Greenwood | SC | Link | Lightly recruited; offered PWO by Georgia |
Simon Samarzich | LS | ✯✯✯ | 0.8043 | YES | NO | 6-0/200 | 6/8/18 | Upland | CA | Rated the top long snapper in the country | |
Gage Gubrud | QB | NA | YES | YES | 6-2/205 | 1/26/19 | Cheney | WA | Link | Grad transfer from EWU |