Red-letter day near

PULLMAN – Paul Wulff can’t wait for Wednesday.

Think a kid the week before Christmas. Think vacationer en route to Hawaii. Think fly fisherman headed to St. Joe’s mayfly hatch.

Washington State University’s football coach can’t wait for letter of intent day to arrive. And he has his reasons. Somewhere around 25 of them.

“I said this a number of years ago at (Eastern Washington) when we brought in a couple special classes back to back,” Wulff said Thursday. “This is the type of class that can bring you a conference championship.

“These type of classes that we are bringing in, the last one in addition to the one we’re bringing in this year, it would really surprise me if they don’t have the potential to bring a championship to Washington State.”

Pretty bold words from a coach of a team coming off a 1-11 season. But Wulff is that enamored with the group he and his assistant coaches have attracted.

“There is enough talent and enough kids with the right character from the neck up, they just have that ability,” Wulff said, riding through California’s Sacramento Valley en route to talking with more recruits. “It’s not a prediction, but I do feel very strongly this is the type of group that can do that.”

Though Wulff cannot talk about individual players until they sign, he can talk about the process.

Some of the headliners of the class expected to sign Wednesday include local products such as tight end Aaron Dunn of Mead, the only WSU recruit to earn a four-star (out of five) rating from Scout.com. Two other local players, Shadle Park tight end Jake Rodgers and quarterback Connor Halliday of Ferris, will send in their letters of intent on signing day.

WSU’s list of recruits includes two junior college offensive linemen, Wade Jacobson and David Gonzalez, who are already in school. Of the 20 other committed players, 14 are from California, five from Washington and one, linebacker Eric Oertel, from Wisconsin.

Only three Cougars commitments came from the West Side and one, Woodinville High defensive end Maxx Forde, is a legacy. His father, Brian, played linebacker at WSU in the mid-1980s. The other two: offensive lineman John Fullington from North Mason High, who committed about a year ago, and speedster Blair Bomber from Lynden High.

“We got some really good players from the state of Washington,” Wulff said.

But two rankings of Washington seniors – Rivals.com and Scout.com – have no more than two WSU recruits in their top 10 (Rivals has Halliday at No. 9 while Scout has Dunn at No. 3 and Rodgers at No. 10). UW has attracted six of the Scout group and five of Rivals’.

“They got good players in their backyard, players we liked,” Wulff said of WSU’s cross-state rival, “but we got good players in our backyard as well, players they also recruited.”

The overall rankings of the classes varies as well, with Scout listing WSU’s group of commits 35th nationally (it ranks 120 schools). Rivals has the Cougars 84th out of the 137 schools it ranked.

The numbers don’t interest Wulff. He’s looking for players who fit his program.

“I want kids who are coming for a purpose, a mission and goal they are striving for,” he said.

When asked which areas he felt were the strongest in the class, Wulff pointed to wide receiver and offensive line – Jacobson, Gonzales, Fullington, Rodgers and Asante Cleveland, who like Rodgers was recruited as a tight end but may end up at tackle, are all 6-foot-5 or taller with frames that can carry 300 pounds or more.

“We improved in the athleticism and frame of body on our offensive line, and the same thing at our receiver position,” Wulff said. “Those two positions in this class are very, very good.”

Though schools can only bring in 25 new recruits each year, they often sign more than that, as some players may not qualify academically and others may delay enrollment until next spring, a process called grayshirting. One player who did that last year, junior college defensive end Bernard Rankin, is on campus and is expected to contribute this fall.

“He’s a lot bigger than we thought,” Wulff said. “He’s 280 pounds now – he played at Butte (College, in California) at probably 245 pounds – so he’s gotten bigger. Some of that is he’s a little out of shape, because he missed a year playing, but he also got stronger.”

Though there are only a few days left, Wulff’s staff isn’t done – as his phone call’s location indicates. WSU hopes to attract a couple of more defensive linemen and possibly another defensive back.

Erick Dargan, a highly touted safety from Pittsburg, Calif., has said he’s down to two schools: Oregon and WSU. Two of his high school teammates, Robert Jiles and Tracy Clark, have already committed to WSU and, if Dargan joins them, the Cougars’ class jumps a notch.

Wulff is so excited about his signings, he will tour the state to talk about them – including at 6 p.m. Wednesday at Northern Quest Casino.

Whatever happens, Wulff is already pleased.

“We’re still trying to fill a couple spots we have open,” he said. “At the same time, the core of this class is done and committed and will sign on Wednesday. It’s very exciting.”

Sort of like Christmas.