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This week Paul Wulff blasted his fellow Pac-10 coaches for poaching recruits and called for an early signing period, such as exists for basketball.
I think what really sucks here, is that WSU has to work harder than (arguably) any other team in the Pac 10 when it comes to recruiting. I think Wulff's staff have done a really good job of identifying talent before the bigger programs take notice... mainly because they have to. What they've accomplished on the recruiting trail is nothing short of miraculous considering the way these past two seasons have gone.
On a related note, I still think we've got to give the staff two more years before we can really measure any results. I think there is a very small percentage of Cougs that really understand the utter cluster that Bill Doba created. He took this program from the pinnacle of success and let it crumble. I know hind sight is 20/20 but I gotta believe Sterk is kicking himself for that decision in 2002. Given the momentum of the program; we could have probably got some very interesting candidates.
Take a look at the last three signing classes we've had and what they have amounted to.
The reason that we are smaller and slower than our competition is simply because we're playing with kids that are not Pac-10 caliber. Period. Take a look at the offers a lot of these kids got. Notice,that I don't list the interested schools, I just list the confirmed offers (per Scout.com / Cougfan.com).
Granted, part of this is due in part to us getting to kids early, but the 2008 class is comprised 90% of kids that arguably don't belong in the Pac 10. These are the players suiting up for us every Saturday. 2007 was Doba's last recruiting class. In December of 2008, we had three verbal commits when he left. To give some perspective; we have 16 verbals for the 2010 class as of today.
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Player
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2007 Listed Offers
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Position
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Current Status |
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Reed Lesuma (JC)
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*
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Oregon State, San Diego State
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OL
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Not good.
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Alfonso Jackson (JC)
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*
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None
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CB
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Ken Dunn (JC)
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*
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None
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LB
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Wyman Alexander (JC)
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**
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None
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MLB
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Never qualified
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Hallston Higgins
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**
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None
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WLB
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?
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Romeo Pellum
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***
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Arizona State, Idaho State, Utah, Weber State
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CB
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Left the team
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Oga Faumui (JC)
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**
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Hawaii
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DT
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Never qualified. Now at Idaho
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Chima Nwachukwu
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**
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Rice
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S
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Injured. Will come back.
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Devin Giles
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**
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None
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CB
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Left the team
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Aire Justin
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**
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Iowa State, Nevada, UNLV
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CB
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Injured most of the season.
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Eric Block
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***
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Stanford
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S
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Probably wishing he took the Stanford sholarship. Maybe average player? Injured.
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J.T. Levenseller
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**
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Eastern Washington
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QB
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Left the team. Never should have been offered.
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Jeshua Anderson
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***
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Nevada, Oregon
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WR
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Left the team.
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Deon Ford
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***
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Colorado State, Nevada, UNLV, Utah
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WR
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On the team?
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Jesse Feagan (JC)
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***
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Idaho
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DE
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Not good.
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Terry Mixon (JC)
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*****
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Arizona, Arizona State, California, Miss., Tenessee
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S
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Left the team
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Steven Ayers
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***
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Boise State, Eastern Washington, Idaho, Oregon State, UNLV
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OG
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Injured all year.
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Vaughn Lesuma (JC)
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***
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Iowa State, New Mexico State, Oregon State, San Diego State
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Devin Frischknecht (JC)
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***
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None
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TE
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Marshal Pirtz
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**
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Idaho State
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LB
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Transferred to Idaho
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Cornorris Atkins
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***
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None
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S
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Academically ineligible
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Marshal Lobbestal
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**
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None
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QB
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Not good.
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Logwone Mitz
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***
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None
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FB
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Injured all year.
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Daniel Blackledge
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**
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Colorado State
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WR
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Injured all year.
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Tyson Penser
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**
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Colorado
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OL
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Not good.
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Andrew Roxas
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***
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Baylor, Colorado, Colorado State, San Diego State, UNLV, Utah
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OL
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May be good one day. Redshirting this year after suffering a rare food illness.
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BJ Guerra
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**
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None
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OL
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Injured all year.
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Kevin Freitag
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**
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None
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OL
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?
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Kevin Lopina
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***
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Transfer
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QB
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Not good.
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Player
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Star Rating
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2008 Listed Offers
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Position
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Current Status
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LeAndre Daniels
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*
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None
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S
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Broke leg against Hawaii.
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Louis Bland
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**
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Cal Poly, Montana, Sacramento State
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RB
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Moved to linebacker. Out for the rest of the season (Arizona State)
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Daniel Simmons
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**
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None
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CB
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Out for the rest of the season (Arizona State)
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Michael Vandenkolk
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**
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UC Davis
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CB
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Left the team
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Zach Williams (JC)
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***
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San Diego State
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C
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Injured has missed most of the season.
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Alex Reitnouer
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**
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Idaho State, Montana State, Northern Arizona
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OT
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Moved to guard. Listed at 253 pounds. Starting due to all the injuries.
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Adam Coerper
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**
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Portland State
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TE
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?
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Cory Mackay
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**
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Arizona, Washington
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WR
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Best recruit in the class hands down.
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Mike Ledgerwood
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**
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Portland State
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MLB
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May start. No depth.
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Kevin Frank
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***
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Boise State, Fresno State, Nebraska, San Diego State
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CB
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Left the team
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Anthony Laurenzi
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**
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Nevada
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DT
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Has started this season.
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Bernard Wolfgramm (JC)
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****
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Cal, Hawaii, Kansas State
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DT
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Injured most of the season. Seems like a bust.
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Terrance Hayward
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**
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None
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CB
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Has started. Does okay.
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Jay Mathews
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**
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Northern Arizona, Portland State
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S
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Will start. No depth left.
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Kevin Norrell
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**
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None
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WR
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Dismissed from the team.
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Tyree Toomer
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**
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None
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S
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Out for the season with injury. Hasn't played one down. Redshirting.
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Chantz Staden (JC)
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***
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None
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RB
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Off season surgery. Red shirting.
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Josh Luapo (JC)
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***
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New Mexico State, San Diego State
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DE
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Out for the season against USC.
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Jessy Sanchez (JC)
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***
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None
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DE
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Has he played?
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Myron Beck (JC)
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***
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Eastern Washington, Sam Houston State, Westren Illinois
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LB
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Walk On
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Andrei Lintz
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**
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Idaho State, Montana
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TE
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Has played some.
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Calvin Schmidt
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**
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Eastern Washington, Idaho State
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QB
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Kicked off the team.
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Skylar Stormo
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**
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None (Apparently had interest from UW and Boise State)
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TE
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Has played some.
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Dan Spitz
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**
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Hawaii, Idaho
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DE
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Split time starting all season.
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Tim Hodgon
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**
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None
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OG
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4th String
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Jared Karstetter
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***
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Air Force, Eastern Washington, Idaho, UNLV
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WR
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Solid player.
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Player
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2009 Listed Offers
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Position
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Current Status
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Brandon Rankin (JC)
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****
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LSU, North Carolina State
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DL
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January Enrollment
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Terrel Thompson
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**
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None
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LB
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Didn't qualify.
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Carl Winston
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**
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Arizona State, Colorado, New Mexico, San Diego State, San Jose
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RB
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Playing this year.
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Sekope Kaufusi
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**
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San Jose State
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LB
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Redshirting.
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Asi Hosea
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**
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Arizona State, BYU, Hawaii, Kansas State, SMU, Washington
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S
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January Enrollment
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Travis Long
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***
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Boise State, Oregon State
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DE
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Playing this year.
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Jordan Pu'u-Robinson
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**
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Idaho, Utah State, Wyoming
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TE
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Redshirting.
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Sebastian Valenzuela
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**
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None
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OL
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Redshirting.
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Peter Tuitupou (JC)
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**
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New Mexico State
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TE
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Left the team
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Anthony Carpenter
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***
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Nebraska, Oregon State
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CB
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Redshirting.
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Casey Locker
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**
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Washington
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CB
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Redshirting.
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Nolan Washington
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***
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Arizona State, Boise State, Idaho, Minnesota
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CB
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Redshirting.
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Arthur Burns
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***
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Colorado State, San Diego State, UNLV, Wyoming
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RB
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Redshirting. Recently moved to LB.
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William Prescot
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**
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None
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OL
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Redshirting.
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Johnny Forzani
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***
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Buffalo, Hawaii, Nevada
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WR
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Playing this year.
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Quayshawne Buckley
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***
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Colorado State, Idaho, Oregon State
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OL
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January Enrollment
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Jamal Atofau
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***
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Arizona, Boise State, Oregon, Washington
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S
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Redshirting.
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Andre Barrington
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***
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None
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LB
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Redshirting.
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Gino Simone
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****
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Boise State, Oregon State, Washington
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WR
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Playing this year.
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Jeff Tuel
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***
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Fresno State, Nevada
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QB
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Playing this year.
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Chris Mastin
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***
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None
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DE
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January Enrollment
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Darren Markle
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***
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None
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LB
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Redshirting.
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Justin Clayton
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***
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Fresno State
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DT
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Redshirting.
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I don't disagree that the current Coug kids should be playing in the Ivy League vs the Pac-10 but it is hard to watch the coaching staff continue to do the same thing over and over again.
And I'm not undersized! I have put on some impressive "Daddy" weight!