COUGARS

FROM PULLMAN -- Wonder if Mike Leach felt the same way when he locked up his latest recruit as Blake Griffin did when he destroyed Kendrick Perkins last night. Regardless, your morning links are always a slam dunk. So read on.

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See what I did there? ... Anyway, the Cougars picked up a commitment yesterday from a top 50 linebacker -- their fifth linebacker in this class -- and now have 24 players verbally committed, according to Scout.com. (That's the same number as was listed yesterday, because safety Taylor Taliulu has reportedly changed his mind and will attend Hawaii instead of WSU.) ... As we detailed in this blog post yesterday, Lakes receiver Cedric Dozier is set to decide between WSU and California today at 2:30 p.m. ... The Cougars are also in the mix for receiver Kenny Lawler (that story also makes mention of WSU recruit Robert Lewis). And there are indications that WSU has a good shot at landing both of the aforementioned players. ... Bud Withers stole what little thunder I had with this profile of WSU commit Austin Apodaca, the lone quarterback in Leach's first recruiting class. I'll have more on Apodaca in Thursday's paper as our main story from signing day. ... CougCenter grades WSU's class so far.

Around the Pac-12: ... Oregon's hoops team still isn't consistent enough for its coach's liking. ... Oregon State football coach Mike Riley talks recruiting. The Beavers' poor 2011 season didn't impact their recruiting class. ... Howie Long's son has taken a long road to becoming an Oregon offensive tackle recruit. ... Bob Clark says Washington and Cal will be hard to unseat from the top of the conference basketball standings. ... Arizona's Kevin Parrom still has some trials to take care of off the court. ... A flip-flopped commitment heard 'round the desert. ... UCLA's Jim Mora gets aggressive with recruiting. The Bruins found a quarterback -- a really good one. ... Barry Sanders (the son of that other Barry Sanders) likes the anonymity offered at Stanford. ... Lots of local recruits chose to go to school out of state this season, but Steve Kelley says they had reason for going elsewhere. Zach Banner did just that on Monday, though the Huskies also gained a commit from a high-profile safety.

All for now. We'll be back with some basketball news later, after Ken Bone's two press conferences. Then we're writing our profile on linebackers coach Jeff Choate, which you can read in Wednesday's newspaper.

Christian Caple can be reached at christianc@spokesman.com. Twitter: @ChristianCaple

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