Jake Dickert, Washington State Cougars.
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.
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.
Despite a few quality additions, the Washington State Cougars recruiting class of 2022 didn’t impress the ranking websites.
ESPN
National Rank: 66 Pac-12 Rank: 9
24/7
National Rank: 64 Pac-12 Rank: 9
Rivals
National Rank: 73 Pac-12 Rank: 10
On3db
National Rank: 68 Pac-12 Rank: 10
This won’t cut it. On the bigger stage, constantly falling behind schools like Boise State, UCF, Arkansas State, Marshall, and UTSA in the recruiting game looks bad for a team that is part of a storied conference. Additionally, many of the recruits they signed weren’t highly recruited by other Pac-12 schools.
While it’s OK to sign players from recruiting hotbeds like California, Texas, and Florida, the Cougars bread and butter is still in Washington State. The Cougs only landed four in-state recruits, DB Leyton Smithson (Bellingham – Squalicum ), RB Djouvensky Schlenbaker (Bellingham – Squalicum), Jakobus Seth Arlington – Lakewood), and Hudson Cedarland (Gig Harbor).
The Pac-12 is already becoming the weak sister of the Power-5. Getting beat out by so many other conference schools is a big blow. The Cougs play against Oregon and Stanford every season. Losing to them in the offseason tends to bring losing in-season. It makes falling behind those schools for recruits a double-loss.
Jake Dickert earned his shot to the Washington State Cougars head coach by the way he took over the team after the university fired Nick Rolovich. However, one of the reasons given for his promotion was to keep continuity in recruiting. A recruiting class in the bottom third of the PAC-12 doesn’t say much about his ability to pull in quality talent. That’s even more true considering the current circumstances.
Washington and Oregon hired new coaches after WSU. Cal head coach Justin Wilcox had his name pop up in connection with several vacancies. The NCAA is investigating Herm Edwards at Arizona State. It took until two and a half weeks ago for UCLA to extend Chip Kelly’s contract before he headed into lame-duck status. And rumors about Utah’s Kyle Whittingham retiring in the near future won’t disappear.
That doesn’t include a new coach at USC because Lincoln Riley moved his Oklahoma recruiting juggernaut west. Nor the dumpster fire that University of Arizona football became the last two seasons.
The Washington State Cougars had an opening to pull some big-name recruits away from conference powerhouses but failed to do so. It’s an opportunity missed he may regret a few years down the road.
In the end, it’s not about where a recruit was ranked. It’s about what happens once the young man gets to campus. College football fans witness recruiting busts all the time. They’ve also seen players come almost out of nowhere who rise up and become All-Americans and high draft picks.
Just look at Ward; not too long ago, he was a zero-star recruit with no FBS prospects. Today, he’s a Pac-12 quarterback.
Now it’s on the coaching staff to develop what they have.
What do you think about the Washington State Cougars 2022 recruiting class? Let us know in the comments sections below.