2014 Washington State Recruiting Breakdown: Offensive Line Early Preview

The offensive line the past few years for Washington State has not always been the biggest or the best in the PAC-12. With the struggles that the team has had recently it has been hard to get some of the top notch players. In 2013 the cougars will have 16 returning lineman as well as 7 new lineman.

The 2012 season was full of unfortunate events and a lot of struggling. WSU gave up 57 sacks and was last in the FBS in rushing yards per game. With the amount of switching around and filling positions it’s hard to tell which players are going to end up where come August.

2013 incoming players include Cody O’Connell (Wenatchee, WA), Carlos Freeman (Oklahoma City, OK), Cole Madison, (Burien, WA), Matt Meyer (Lynden, WA), Riley Sorenson (Santa Margarita, CA), B.J. Salmonson (Nooksack, WA), and Jacob Seydel (Riverside, CA). Salmonson and Seydel have been with the team since spring.

Head coach Mike Leach says he is targeting size on the offensive line and believes that when the line gets bigger they will be able to do a lot more of what he wants to run. 6 of the lineman last year were over 6-5 and all but one of the lineman being recruited for 2014 are over that mark. Leach has already started to bring in the size with the 2013 class, 5 of the men are 6-6 or taller.

WSU has 4 seniors on the o-line on and is pretty evenly proportioned throughout all the other classes. Because of the struggles and not so very old group I can see a freshman coming in in 2014 and possibly getting playing time if he has the skill and if the coaching staff doesn’t figure out what needs to happen by then.

The offensive line is going to be a huge part in the cougars success this upcoming season and will determine a lot.