WSU Football Recruiting: 2014 Class by the Numbers

Andre Dillard Photo

We still have plenty to talk about with the official 2014 Washington State crop of recruits. Let’s go over some numbers.

Signed by Position:

Quarterback, 1 (Peyton Bender).
Running Back, 1 (Squally Canada).
Receivers, 4 (Barry Ware, Keith Harrington, Zaire Andre, Calvin Green, plus transfer Sebastian LaRue).
O-Linemen/Utility, 3 (Nick Begg, Sean Krepsz, Andre Dillard).
Defensive Backs, 6 (Sulaiman Hameed, Deion Singleton, Patrick Porter, Kevin Griffin, Markell Sanders, Marcellus Pippins).
Linebackers, 4 (Dylan Hanser, Frankie Luvu, Greg Hoyd, Kingston Fernandez).
D-Linemen, 3 (Ngalu Tapa, Hercules Mata’afa, Jalen Canty).

Signed by State:

Vitals that Jump Off the Page:

DE Jalen Canty checks in at 6’8, 270 lbs, making him one of only three players on the current roster at 6’7 or above (Gunnar Ecklund at 6’7, Cody O’Connell at 6’8). Canty is four inches taller than Xavier Cooper and Destiny Vaeao, the tallest players to take major snaps at DE in 2013.
WR Barry Ware at 6’3, 205 is by far the biggest receiver in the class, two inches taller than Andre, twenty pounds heavier than LaRue.
OT Sean Krepsz isn’t the biggest lineman in the Leach era, not by a long shot. But at 6’5, 295 he’s bigger than four of the linemen that got any major snaps in 2013 (Bosch, Brevick, Dahl, Goetz).
OLB Dylan Hanser wasn’t really considered one of the more important signees of the 2013/2014 class (grayshirt), but he becomes easily the tallest linebacker at 6’5. At 230 lbs and a bit of versatility and speed as well, he may well force his way into the lineup just to make the Cougars bigger.

Most Important Number:

With six early enrollees, Mike Leach says this is the biggest class of early enrollees in his career. That’s not including Sebastian LaRue, which makes seven new kids enrolled in the Spring semester. When you consider the amount of conditioning and development that can be made in the Spring sessions, that’s an important number. Also, it means kids are getting their schoolwork done early, a huge Leach brownie point.

Least Important Number:

Andre Dillard at 6’5, 245 is obviously on the light side of the coin when it comes to a Leach lineman. But he’s not a scrub recruit that just made it in on the name of his daddy (who played fb at WSU in the 80’s). Dillard’s technique and leverage is as solid as any coming out of high school in the past three OL classes. Not to mention he’s up to 250 and hard at work adding more weight. Leach says he’s “only getting bigger” and has raved about Dillard’s technique since his commitment.

Remaining Spots:

Only one spot remains for a scholarship offer in 2014. Many think it could be used on a kicker, but if you’re asking me, it’s more likely a JC punter would get that scholly if it were to be used on special teams. There will be kicker tryouts but a walk-on should win the position in 2014.

Biggest Battle:

At least five of the six defensive backs coming into the fold will get a look at corner. The Cougars graduated five DB’s overall, three corners and two safeties, leaving a huge hole in the secondary.