Washington State Football Spring Enrollees 2014: CB Marcellus Pippins
By Josh Davis
School: El Cerrito HS – El Cerrito, CA
Position: Cornerback
Vitals: 5’10, 175 lbs
Rank:
- Rivals: N/A
- Scout: #75
- ESPN: #91
- 247Sports: N/A
FBS Offers: Utah, Utah State, SDSU, UCLA, UNLV, WSU
Player Type: Off-corner/Zone
Best Attributes: Change of Direction, Ball Skills
Prediction and Early Impact:
Marcellus Pippins is a tough player to predict as a freshman. He is pretty electrifying with the ball in his hands, but the Cougars will have him lining up at the cornerback position. Generally on a Mike Leach team, offensive skill players who play with the ball in their hands all the time get the call to return punts and kicks. Matter of fact, the last defensive back that I can remember returning kicks for the Cougs was Marcus Trufant way back in 2003.
So will Pippins get to play somewhere in the corner rotation? Again, tough to say. He already took a Fall off to get bigger and stronger, similar to what Robert Lewis did for Leach and Co. two seasons ago. But the biggest issue that kept him out of the 2013 signing class was a senior season shoulder injury.
He’ll get a really good look in Spring with all the departures on the back-end for WSU. He may even find himself in a starting role at times in the Spring. He needs to stay on top of the fade a little better, but he has good closing speed and above average ball skills (finding and playing the ball while in the air from CB).
Ultimately, the play in Spring will be quite valuable to Pippins, but I don’t think he possesses the length that the Cougs will look at once the Fall hits, at least not to start this season. Still, a better than expected Summer and that ultra-quick change of direction you can see below could land him in the rotation somewhere around the midway point to keep legs fresh.
“Freshman Impact Potential” Rating: 6
Highlights: