WSU Football Recruiting: Dynamic Week of Verbals Gives Mike Leach Momentum In Pac-12 Recruiting Wars

The Pac-12 should be very afraid of what Mike Leach is building right now, VERY afraid. He’s winning some recruiting battles and a lot of kids are at least considering Wazzu where that wouldn’t have been the case even a year ago. But it hasn’t come without a few bumps in the road. Let’s take a look at what’s been going on lately in the WSU recruiting war-room.

Squally Canada commits

Washington State may have pulled off a little bit of a switcharoo from what happened to them four years ago. The Squally highlight tape is full of cuts, broken tackles and speed that are reminiscent of one, Bishop Sankey (the same that skipped out on his commitment to Wazzu to head to Seattle). This once Boise State commit was headed for Oregon State, but Leach shown him the light and now Canada is a Coug. Quite frankly, the Air-Raid guru isn’t supposed to be getting kids like this in his system, but the run game has been heavier in the WSU offense this year and if Marcus Mason can rattle off 800 all-purpose yards, kids like Squally Canada, Gerard Wicks and Jamal Morrow are going to be totally lethal.

Four O-linemen commit last week

The future of the offensive line was unsure at the beginning of last week, that’s for certain. But that’s no longer the case, as the staff put their bowl berth and a week and a half of recruiting to good use, snatching up four commitments from the OL last week alone. Andre Dillard, Brandon Evers, Nick Begg and JC prospect Miguel Machado aren’t elite recruits, but Evers and Machado are legitimately sized and the other two have terrific upside and better than average athleticism. Machado had a high offer sheet, including Louisville and Michigan State while Begg was a Pac-12 win over ASU, where he was previously committed . WSU is still holding out hope for Kaleb McGary, the #26 rated tackle in America, who says he was very pleased and impressed with his visit to Pullman, far beyond expectations.

Two hybrid Hawaiian on board

Kingston Fernandez and Hercules Mata’afa are two underrated DE/LB types from the islands that bolster Wazzu’s 2014 defensive class as well. Both are Pac-12 recruiting wins, Fernandez from ASU and Mata’afa from OSU.

One jets for the purple and gold, other departures possible

It wasn’t a full week of rose buds, the Cougs did lose S/CB Darren Gardenhire’s commitment to the new Mutt-leader Chris Peterson after a UW offer came early Monday. Can’t blame Gardenhire too much, his cousin Dwayne Washington plays RB for the Dawgs so that’s a cool opportunity. Gotta feel bad for the kid that he’ll miss out on the Cougars’ rise to the Pac-12 title while coming up short on the Lake though (just kidding… sort of).

He’s not the only decommit so far, Jordan Rose, Marcus Griffin and Braden Eggert were others to change their mind. There is also some movement around a couple of other WSU commitments, far as offers they may not have expected, playing closer to home and maybe some other factors, so stay tuned for one or two more switches.