WSU Football Recruiting: Chandler Leniu Decommits, Cougars Hone in on Xavier Ulutu

The Washington State Cougars could use a couple four star kids like Chandler Leniu, the nationally 12th ranked high school middle linebacker. For a while, they had him, but on Saturday the St. John Bosco standout opened everything back up.

Lots of Cougar followers are bummin’ after this decision by Leniu. He still has WSU officially in his top three and the coaches will try and win him back but it sure is looking at this point like the the Cal Golden Bears are going to garner his services. That could be a large flip in the grand scheme of things, but let’s not despair too much.

Washington State is hardly in a position where this crushes their overall class, their overall defensive class, or even the linebacker position for this class. 3-star OLB Frank Luvu (#66) and 3-star OLB Greg Hoyd (#47) are still on board, with a potential move to BUCK by 3-star DE Kingston Fernandez (#151) and 2-star DE Hercules Mata’afa. That keeps at least four potential OLB’s in the class, which is pretty solid.

Let’s also not forget about 2013 LB Peyton Pelluer from Skyline, WA who still has four seasons of eligibility and wildcard commit Dylan Hanser from Montana. The 2-star greyshirted and is just beginning his attendance cycle.

But the Cougs are still far from done in 2014. 3-star MLB Xavier Ulutu (#58) is set to visit the Pullman campus on Jan. 24th and the Cougs are high on him. If they can secure a commitment from Ulutu, that’s still one heck of a linebacker class. He is deciding mainly between Fresno State and the Cougars, but also holds offers from Boise State, Colorado State and New Mexico.

WSU is still lurking on 4-star USC commit OLB Olajuwon Tucker as well. The Trojans earned his commitment a while ago but this weekends official visit could be interesting with the coaching transition to Steve Sarkisian. Tucker’s didn’t exactly get an early call of excitement from Sark after the crossover and could be a surprise and welcome flip if it doesn’t work out in Los Angeles.

This has happened before in favor of the Cougs, with 4-star WR Michael Bumpus. Just like in Bumpus’ case, if history were to repeat itself, it would seem Tucker would have something to prove and become the gem of the Cougar class. You wouldn’t hear any complaints coming from WSU supporters I’m sure. Far from done folks, far from done.

All rankings courtesy of Scout recruiting services.

Go Cougs!