WSU lands biggest commit yet in JUCO WR Devin Ellison, plus two more transfers and three HS pledges

PULLMAN – A day after Jimmy Rogers was formally introduced as Washington State’s next football coach, he reeled in his biggest catch yet.

Junior college transfer wide receiver Devin Ellison is transferring to WSU, he announced on social media Friday morning, giving the Cougars their highest-profile transfer since Rogers took the job in late December. A three-star prospect, Ellison will have two years of eligibility (plus a redshirt year) after playing one year at Monterey (California) Peninsula College .

In 10 games last season at Monterey Peninsula, Ellison had 45 receptions for 837 yards and 16 touchdowns, ranking as 247 Sports’ No. 6 junior college wide receiver in his class. He hails from Canton, Georgia, about 45 minutes outside Atlanta.

Ellison, who received his WSU offer last weekend and visited Pullman earlier this week, picked picked the Cougars over finalists Central Florida and Boise State. He was pursed by dozens of schools, including Fresno State, San Diego State, Texas-San Antonio, Hawaii, Nevada, Western Kentucky, Akron and several FCS clubs.

Ellison started his career in 2022 at Southern University, where he never saw the field.

Rogers and the Cougars also earned commitments Friday from Cal Poly transfer cornerback Kai Rapolla and Southwestern Oklahoma State transfer punter Dylan Mauro. Rapolla, who will have two years of eligibility, entered the transfer portal in December, committed to San Diego State, then decommitted and re-entered the portal.

In 2024, he totaled 30 tackles, five pass breakups and two interceptions in 10 games, all starts. A native of Winchester, California, Rapolla redshirted in 2022, then recorded 14 tackles and four passbreakups in nine games in 2023. He finished the 2024 season with a Pro Football Focus coverage grade of 81.8, well above average and tops on the team.

Rapolla, 6-foot and 190 pounds, joins WSU as an immediate starting candidate. The Cougars are losing both of their 2024 starters, Ethan O’Connor (transferred to Miami) and Steve Hall (transferred to Missouri), while Rogers has also landed a commitment from former South Dakota State CB Colby Humphrey, a veteran.

Mauro spent the 2023 season at Texas-El Paso before transferring to Southwestern Oklahoma State for the 2024 season. A Dallas-area native, Mauro is a candidate to replace former longtime WSU punter Nick Haberer, who transferred to Vanderbilt this offseason.

Ellison, Rapolla and Mauro make up the 18th, 19th and 20th transfers Rogers has landed at WSU. They’re the fourth, fifth and sixth Rogers has landed from a school other than South Dakota State, joining Cal Poly transfer defensive lineman Soni Finau, who committed Wednesday, and Michigan State transfer tight end Ademola Faleye, who committed Thursday.

On Friday, Rogers also landed three more high school commits, giving him six from those ranks – cornerbacks Trillion Sorrell and Tyrone Cotton, plus athlete Damarius Russell, all three-star prospects. All three were previously committed to Rogers at SDSU, which applies to all of the high school pledges he’s landed, an unsurprising development considering high school recruiting across the country mostly wrapped up during the Dec. 4-6 early signing period.

WSU is losing several receivers from last season – senior Kyle Williams exhausted his eligibility, Carlos Hernandez transferred to Wake Forest and Kris Hutson transferred to Arizona . Ellison, at 6-2, provides some size on the outside, making him a starting candidate right away.

The Cougars are returning two wideouts with experience at WSU, Josh Meredith and Tre Shackelford, both of whom entered the transfer portal but later withdrew their names. It’s likely Meredith, Shackelford and Ellison will feature prominently in the Cougars’ 2025 wide receiver rotation, which could include rising sophomore Branden Ganashamoorthy in a new, run-centric scheme under Rogers and offensive coordinator Danny Freund.

Mauro had 64 punts for 2,764 yards last season, good for an average punt of 43.2 yards, with a long punt of 84 . He punted 10 times for 50-plus yards and landed 19 inside the opponents’ 20-yard line. He also handled kickoff duties for SW Oklahoma State, with six touchbacks on 36 kickoffs.

With Haberer off to Vanderbilt and longtime place-kicker Dean Janikowski out of eligibility, Mauro can fill some holes on the kicking side of WSU’s special teams department. Mauro is the second kicker WSU has added under Rogers, who has also secured a commitment from former South Dakota State kicker Jack Stevens, a rising sophomore.

Former WSU long snapper Colson Brunner has also transferred to Vanderbilt. The only long snapper on WSU’s roster is Sean Bures, who will be a redshirt sophomore in 2025.

Rogers did well to add some defensive back depth with prep players Cotton and Sorrell. Cotton, who hails from the Chicago area, also had offers from Indiana, Miami (Ohio), Akron, Buffalo and a handful of FCS schools, including Western Michigan and Western Illinois.

Cotton also competed in track and field last spring at Glenbrook South High, where he recorded a personal-best 100-meters time of 11.49 seconds. He had four first-place finishes in the long jump, with a high mark of 22 feet, 6¼ inches, and he had three first-place finishes in the high jump, with a PR of 6-5.

“Tyrone is a long and rangy lockdown cornerback who will impact our team right away,” Rogers said via South Dakota State release on signing day. “We cannot wait to get him on campus and develop him into one of the best cornerbacks in the country.”

Sorrell, a 6-foot cornerback prospect out of Edina High in the Minneapolis area, recorded 18 tackles (two for loss) and two passes defended in eight games played last season. He also caught caught 30 passes for 547 yards and seven touchdowns, earning offers from FCS schools North Dakota State, South Dakota, Northern Iowa, St. Thomas and North Dakota.

“(Sorrell) brings a ton of athleticism and fire to the secondary,” Rogers said via release. “We love the competitiveness and edge that he plays the position with. (Sorrell) will be ready to compete right away.”

Russell (5-11) – from Waseca, Minnesota, outside Minneapolis – turned down offers from Texas Tech, North Dakota State, Northern Iowa before committing to Rogers at SDSU.

Russell earned high school conference awards as special teams player of the year (2022), receiver of the year (2023) and player of the year (2024). He completed his prep career with 110 receptions for 1,800 yards and 19 total touchdowns on offense, plus 100 tackles and 11 interceptions on defense.

An all-state selection in 2024, Russell has been selected to play in the Minnesota high school football all-star game.

“Damarius is one of the most instinctual players in the class,” Rogers said via release. “He has extraordinary ball skills and playmaking ability. His suddenness and speed will make an impact in our secondary.”

Later Friday, WSU also landed a commitment from two-star wide receiver Carter Pabst out of Goddard, Kansas. Pabst, who was also previously committed to Rogers at South Dakota State, hauled in 75 passes for 1,641 yards and 29 TDs last year at Goddard-Eisenhower, which competes in Kansas’ 5A division, the state’s second-largest.

The 6-foot-1 Pabst, who also had an offer from North Dakota, set the state record for career touchdowns with 54.