Quotes of note: Washington State coaches, broadcasters break down Cougars’ 2020 signing class
Washington State has now signed the bulk of its 2020 recruiting class, inking 17 players on Wednesday morning as the NCAA’s Early Signing Period began. As is custom, Cougar broadcasters Matt Chazanow and Alex Brink, along with sideline reporter Jessamyn McIntyre, broke down the signing class on the National Signing Day Radio Show with the help of various WSU position coaches and administrators.
Below, we compiled some of the more interesting quotes that came out of the conversations from Mike Leach’s office in the football operations building early Wednesday afternoon.
Alex Brink, former WSU QB/Cougars radio analyst
On Jayden de Laura: “You can’t talk about this class without talking about the quarterback, Jayden de Laura. … He’s a guy that, he jumps off the page to me as somebody that can come in and make in impact for Washington State at the quarterback position. I really like what he brings to the table athletically. He’s a little different and I think that’s the thing that’s kind of unique. It’s kind of the new-age Air Raid quarterback, maybe will remind you a little bit of Gardner Minshew. Maybe a little bit more athletic than Gardner.”
On de Laura’s hand size: “The one thing coaches told me, he’s got the biggest hands in the recruiting class. Ten-inch hands, which is for a quarterback, for those that follow those sort of things is really, really important.”
Mason Miller, WSU offensive line coach
On his five-man offensive line class: “I like all their personalities, I think they fit in our room. I always kind of say this, we’re kind of a don’t say a whole lot, do your job and words and actions and the whole deal. … The other thing is they’re large humans as you can tell, and all of them are 17 years old, so they’re all puppies. None of them have a stitch of hair on their face. They’re trying to, it’s cute. … I feel like since they’ve come on their official visits and these last couple weeks when we were out seeing them, I felt like they were getting bigger before my eyes.”
On recruiting Dylan Mayginnes, younger brother of WSU’s Hunter Mayginnes: “The first thing I told him is, I’m recruiting you for you, not because of your brother. And I think that’s very important. I’ve always thought, and Hunter’s doing a pretty good job for us, but Dylan brings some different things to the table.”
On recruiting the state of Washington: “I think in the Pacific Northwest in general, but in the state of Washington, linemen develop later on in life. And you can walk in our meeting room and look at the guy’s jersey behind me (Andre Dillard) and the guy playing right tackle (Abe Lucas) … they’re going to develop later. And I think kids here are longer than most places, for some reason. And I don’t want to let the cat out of the bag, but there’s an abundant amount of tall people in the state of Washington. … Seriously, the state of Washington has large beings and they do develop later.”
Eric Mele, WSU running backs coach
On recruiting de Laura: “Classic coach Leach. The old, ‘Hey Mele, hop on a plane and go to Hawaii and go get this guy. This is the guy we want, our top guy kind of thing. So I went out to practice, kind of windy on the island that day. Every ball he threw was a nice tight spiral. Not one ball fluttered. And came after practice, because the height thing was a question. … I’m like, ‘Hey man, are you quite six feet?’ … He goes, ‘Yeah coach, I think I’m just a little bit under six feet.’ I’m like, ‘I like that you’re honest.’ I’m like, ‘Do you like throwing the ball? Yeah? All right, you’ve got an offer to Washington State.’”
On running back signee Marshawn Buchanan: “He’s a mid-year guy, so he’ll be here in January. He’s got a nice frame and we’re going to feed him. … He can do it all, kind of a natural athlete. Can catch the ball, can block. Again, that good frame and he knows how to find the end zone, man, so I’m excited to get him here.”
On defensive end Justin Lohrenz: “He looks like a million bucks. When he was on his official visit, we threw him the uniform and he’s a basketball player too, a four-year starter in high school. Kind of looks like that, he’s really got that athletic build. Kind of gets in his stance and he’s flat backed and he’s ready to tee off on people. Super high-motor guy and for us, we just projected since his frame looks a little lean up top, he’s going to be a 260-270-pound interior guy for us.”
Matt Brock, WSU outside linebackers/special teams coach
On getting younger players first to fill special teams roles: “Absolutely, you want speed and size obviously on special teams. It’s pretty simple. A fundamental thing that if you have that in a class, it helps you. But I think once we get here and see how they play in the drills and all that stuff, you get a better feel for it.”
Dave Emerick, WSU Chief of Staff
On building a pipeline to Saint Louis High (de Laura’s school): “It’s a school we need to continue to recruit and they’ve got players next year and they’ll have players the year after that and the year after that. So, if we can get some kind of pipeline started by Jayden, that’d be awesome.”
On signing Joey Hobert, the son of UW QB Billy Joe Hobert: “I don’t think in a million years Billy Joe Hobert would’ve ever thought he was tweeting a “Go Cougs.” He’s a pretty passoinate Husky, but he’s so supportive of his son and Joey’s a great kid. Joey’s just a football player. Never comes off the field, plays offense, plays defense, plays special teams. Just a tremendous talent. … He may not have all the physical tools as far as being 6-5, 200 pounds or anything like that, but boy he’s tough and he’s a competitior.”
On defensive back signees Jackson Lataimua and Hunter Escorcia: “Jackon’s just kind of an old school football player. Physical guy, is always around the ball, making tackles. … Hunter’s a tall, rangy guy who runs the hurdles in track, a big-time program as well. Those guys, they’ll have a chance to compete next year and get in the mix, just from a depth standpoint. And who knows, who knows how far that’ll go.”