Florida defensive end Xavier Young becomes fourth Washington State commit in 2021 class

After securing three commitments from offensive players on the West Coast the last three weeks, Washington State’s 2021 recruiting class took a few different turns on Monday night.

Nick Rolovich and the Cougars went to Florida for their latest pledge and simultaneously added a defensive piece to the 2021 class when Tallahassee, Florida, defensive end Xavier Young became the fourth high school prospect to commit to WSU.

While Young, who goes by the nickname “Professor X,” didn’t garner any apparent interest from other programs within the Pac-12 Conference, he held two other Power Five offers, from Georgia Tech and Maryland. According to Rivals.com, he was also offered by Coastal Carolina, Southern Miss and Jacksonville State, and Young reported an offer from Florida Atlantic on his Twitter account.

The 6-foot-4, 240-pound edge rusher projects as a traditional defensive end in defensive coordinator Jake Dickert’s base 4-3 scheme, and he comes off a productive season at Tallahessee’s Godby High School, where Young totaled 45 tackles, six tackles-for-loss and two quarterback hurries according to MaxPreps.com.

Despite going just 6-7 last season, Young’s Godby team advanced through to the third round of the FHSAA 5A Playoffs, eventually losing to Wakulla. A Twitter video shows Young making a game-clinching stop during Godby’s 35-28 victory over Coffee of Douglas, Georgia, earlier in the season.

According to MaxPreps, Young also moonlighted as an extra-point kicker for the Godby Cougars as a junior, converting all five of his PAT attempts. ESPN and 247Sports.com, the two foremost recruiting websits, don’t have a profile for Young and Rivals.com has yet to assign him a star rating.

Young, the first defensive commit in the recruiting class, joins Arizona offensive guard Brock Dieu, Utah offensive tackle Christian Hilborn and California wide receiver Orion Peters.