WSU football team adds five
COUGARS
As expected, the Washington State football team signed three junior-college transfers to letters of intent on Wednesday, and also signed two players to financial aid packages.
JUCO transfers Lyman Faoliu (defensive end, College of San Mateo), Ivan McLennan (linebacker, El Camino Junior College) and Jacob Seydel (offensive lineman, Riverside Community College) each signed letters of intent, and B.J. Salmonson (offensive lineman) and Robert Lewis (receiver) signed financial aid agreements.
Salmonson and Lewis each signed letters of intent with WSU last February but delayed their enrollment. All five players who signed with the Cougars today will begin classes on Jan. 7 and will be eligible to participate in winter conditioning drills and spring practices.
“We are excited about the start to this class,” said WSU coach Mike Leach in a statement. “Our coaching staff has worked extremely hard over the past year and this class is going to be key for us in the future. Lyman and Jacob give us added size on both lines which is always a priority and Ivan gives us another athletic playmaker on defense. Robert will certainly add speed to our receiving unit and B.J. is a person who is physical and embraces contact.”
The national letter-of-intent signing period for high-school athletes begins Feb. 6.
Here's some biographical information for each player included in WSU's official release:
Faoliu is a 6-2, 275-pound defensive end from the College of San Mateo. In 2012 he recorded 46 tackles, including 3.5 tackles-for-loss and two sacks, while being named to the All-NorCal Conference team. He had a season-high nine tackles against DeAnza while leading his team to a 7-4 record.
McLennan is a 6-3, 220-pound linebacker out of El Camino Junior College. During his two seasons at El Camino McLennan collected 156 total tackles, 20 tackles-for-loss and 4.5 sacks. He was twice named to the all-Central Coast Conference team and most recently was rated as the No. 2 outside linebacker prospect by 247Sports.com.
Seydel is a 6-6, 285-pound offensive lineman out of Riverside Community College. He anchored an offensive line that helped Riverside to a 9-2 record in 2012 and led the conference in scoring, yards per game and passing yards. He garnered All-Central Coast First Team honors will being rated the No. 14 offensive tackle prospect by 247Sports.com. Seydel enrolled at UCLA following his freshman year but returned to Riverside prior to the 2012 season.
Lewis originally signed a National Letter of Intent in February, 2012, but delayed his enrollment at WSU until the 2013 spring semester. A 5-10, 160-pound wide receiver out of South East High School in South Gate, Calif., he led his team to a 13-1 record and the City Section D-II Championship in 2011. Following the season he was named the Player of the year in the division, league and region and was an All-Area First Team selection by the Los Angeles Times.
Salmonson is 6-5, 285-pound offensive lineman from Nooksack Valley High School in Everson, Wash. He also was a member of Mike Leach’s inaugural signing class in 2012 before deciding to delay enrollment until spring, 2013. He was a two-time All-State honoree by the Associated Press, first team as a senior in 2011, and was selected to the All-Northwest Conference first team on both lines each of his final two seasons.
Christian Caple can be reached at christianc@spokesman.com. Twitter: @ChristianCaple