Eastern recruits a solid corps

If all goes well it will be later, rather than sooner, for Eastern Washington football coaches to enjoy the fruits of their recruiting labors.

Despite calling an incoming group of 20 high school players possibly the best, Eagles head coach Paul Wulff said he hopes they all redshirt and stick around for five years.

“That’s what we hope to do,” he said on Wednesday, the first day players could sign a national letter of intent. “The reality is we always play one to three kids in their first year. But we do have lot of returning kids, so it’s not like we needed a definite impact.”

That doesn’t mean there aren’t a number of impact players.

“From a talent standpoint, this is probably the best (class) we’ve ever had,” Wulff said. “There are quite a few kids that still have some academic work to get done to get themselves eligible. But I feel like there’s more difference-maker type kids than we’ve had in the past.”

The class includes 12 Washington All-State players, including Ferris defensive lineman Pat Parham, Colville running back John Roberts and East Valley linebacker Caleb Gillespie.

Wulff also mentioned Chris Powers, a 265-pound defensive lineman out of Tahoma, Wash., and defenders Matt and Zach Johnson, twins out of Tumwater, Wash., plus two running backs out of California.

“John Roberts and Pat Parham are tough Eastern Washington players who are going to represent our university very well,” he said. “Chris Power and the Johnson twins are a great fit for our university. Greg Ford (a wide receiver from Steilacoom, Wash.), I think, is going to be a sleeper in this whole thing along with (Oregon quarterback) Andrew Schumacher.”

He was also very high on a pair of running backs out of northern California.

“Taiwan Jones (Deer Valley) and Edward Russell (Elk Grove) might be the most talented skill position players we’ve ever signed,” he said. “They are definitely impact kids. We are not going to sign a kid out of California unless he’s going to have a big impact in the program.”

Two of the 20 high school players have been accepted by the school but are not on a football scholarship. There is also a junior college defensive back, Ryan Kelley.

The emphasis was on the defensive line, with seven recruits.

“It was very important for us to continue to build the defensive line position,” Wulff said. “It is an area that has been somewhat of a weakness the last few years and we need to continue to upgrade our defensive line.

“We have some fairly athletic, big kids who could maybe be very, very good defensive linemen,” he continued. “If need be, maybe half of them could be very good athletic offensive linemen down the road.”

That could be true of many in the class.

“That gives us some great flexibility,” Wulff said. “Most of them can play more than one position and eventually they are going to find a home where they are going to see the field soonest. Our goal was to fit our needs in certain areas but also get players that can fill in at spots when we get to a depth issue.”

EWU landed most of the recruits it targeted.

“When it came right down to it, yeah,” Wulff said. “Overall, the percentage of kids we wanted we got. We’re very happy.”