The Washington State Cougars picked up a big-time commitment from “athlete” Jeff Farrar from Upland, CA late Tuesday and it could pay immediate dividends in 2014.
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There are plenty of young CB’s roaming the Coug-defensive backfield, but Farrar may come in and immediately make an impact in 2014. He’s billed as a safety prospect by Scout and others, but when looking at the film, I see one of the better corner prospects the Cougs have corralled in some time. Not that he couldn’t compete at safety, but the Cougs are much better off at safety right now and have Farrar’s former high school teammate Kameron Powell coming in next season.
Farrar is a natural coverage player with terrific technique, solid hip movement and a knack for attacking the ball. When he’s out on the island he’s even more instinctive than he is at safety and generally stays on top of the route with ease. His size is pretty good too at 6’1″, 195, making him a coveted prospect for defensive coordinator and defensive backs coach Mike Breske, who likes a taller, more physical brand of cornerback to man up on the outside.
As with all recruiting highlight tapes, it would be interesting to see exactly what’s happening on the plays where Farrar wasn’t so successful. If the tape we do have though is any indication, there weren’t many of those other plays to be had. He was/is No. 232 on ESPN’s Top-300 list for the class of 2014, ranked as the 28th best “athlete” in the land and a 4-star prospect. The only reason he’s not vying for a starting job in the Virginia Cavaliers’ backfield is that he didn’t quite make their high grade standards.
All that said, the Cougs are halfway through their prep for Rutgers and have their leaders/followers in the race for playing time in the defensive backfield. Being so young, it’s going to be important that they settle on somebody fairly quickly in order to get them the reps with the first team defense, so the time for Farrar to come in and be ready immediately has already dwindled past its breaking point. Redshirt senior Tracy Clark and sophomore Daquawn Brown look to have a stranglehold on the week 1 starting jobs at this point.
Most likely scenario if Farrar is to be put into the fray would be somewhere in the Portland State game in week 3. If he does see playing time there, look for him to get some major time against Oregon the next week and possibly move into a starting role soon after that. Otherwise I see no reason to burn a redshirt season on PSU.
There’s no doubt Jeff Farrar is physically ready to be a starting Pac-12 caliber cornerback, in my opinion. Whether he’ll get the chance this season or will have to wait til next is going to be an interesting story to follow as WSU’s Fall camp continues and moves to Pullman after tomorrow. I would be surprised if he’s not on the field today or tomorrow though to start making that push.