Washington State Cougars Recruiting Class of 2022 – Jake Dickert’s first
The Washington State Cougars recruiting class of 2022 has finally come together. We look at how the new group of Cougs stacks up.
Another National Signing Day is in the books. At first glance, the results don’t look very promising for Jake Dickert’s first Washington State Cougars‘ recruiting class. Before being critical, there are some potential gems who will be gracing Martin Stadium in the next few seasons.
Highlights
At the top has to be quarterback Cameron Ward who heads to Washington State from Incarnate Word. Whether or not transfer players should count in recruiting rankings is debatable. The numbers he put up at UIW aren’t. Ward was dynamite in 2021, putting up 4,648 passing yards and 47 touchdowns.
Even better, his head coach last season is WSU’s new offensive coordinator Eric Morris, so Ward knows the system. Some might say that his numbers in FCS won’t translate, but it’s a step above getting a JUCO transfer. Ward may not be Jayden de Laura, but he will be dynamic and possibly more efficient.
The other big get for WSU’s offense is tight end Andre Dollar from Mustang, Oklahoma. It’s been a long time since the words highly recruited and tight end were used in the same sentence when talking about Cougars football. Morris’s version of the Air Raid utilizes a tight end, and Dollar has the tools to excel in that system.
Defensively, three-star inside linebacker Tariq Al-Uqdah from Inglewood, California, has a big upside. The High School All-American Bowl invitee chose Washington State over USC, UW, Arizona, Colorado, and Kansas. With the graduation of linebackers Jahad Woods and Justus Rogers, there is room for Al-Uqdah to step in immediately.