WSU signs Spokane’s Sam Lockett III out of City College of San Francisco

It didn’t take long for the Washington State Cougars to unveil the first surprise of the early signing day when they announced that they had signed defensive back Sam Lockett III to a letter of intent.

Lockett, a junior college transfer from City College of San Francisco, originally hails from Gonzaga Prep in Spokane. He’s rated as a low-three star prospect by 247Sports, and WSU classified him as a safety on his new bio page. He had committed to San Jose State in late November, but decommitted on December 10 — a day after WSU offered. His other offers were from G5 schools and FCS schools.

Lockett originally was a 2018 recruit out of Gonzaga Prep in Spokane, rated as two stars by 247Sports. He walked on with Utah State, where he redshirted his first year and played on special teams in his second. He transferred a few weeks before the Aggies’ 2020 season was to get underway, landing at CCSF. In 13 games there as a sophomore, he recorded 38 tackles, including 2.5 for a loss, along with three interceptions, three pass breakups, and one fumble.

As you can see from his video, CCSF used Lockett all over the place:

“Lockett is a nice pick up for the Cougs — he can come in and play right away, he’ll rejoin his teammate from high school, Armani Marsh, and has some positional versatility,” 247 national recruiting editor Brandon Huffman said. “He’s a great story — he walked on at a Mountain West school, left for a JC, betting on himself, commits to another Mountain West school, then lands an offer from the school just down the road where he grew up, and he’ll finish his career as a Pac-12 scholarship player at the school he grew up near.”

City College of San Francisco is a program that has been good to the Cougars over the years. That’s where all-Pac-12 safety Shalom Luani started out, as well as former safety Robert Taylor and current cornerback Derrick Langford. Other players from CCSF include Anthon Gordon and Easop Winston Jr.

Lockett is one of two projected safeties in the class so far, joining Bellingham’s Leighton Smithson.