Washington State Cougars Recruiting Class of 2022 – Jake Dickert’s first
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.
Updated 2022 @247Sports Composite Football Recruiting Rankings (Commits) 2/2
17. Stanford (22)
24. Arizona (22)
25. Oregon (15)
38. Utah (17)
46. Colorado (25)
55. OSU (16)
57. UCLA (11)
59. Cal (14)
64. WSU (19)
65. USC (8)
92. Washington (9)
105. ASU (9)— SuperWest Sports (@SuperWestSports) February 2, 2022