CWU Recruiting 2020

[IronOre]

I look at a guy like Sirmon of UW right now as his collegiate clock is winding down. They've recruited over him THREE times. As a frosh he verbally committed, then Petersen went out and got Yankoff (now at UCLA) out of Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. Then Petersen took the transfer from Georgia, Jacob Eason. Sirmon then rightfully and wisely entered the transfer portal, but foolishly pulled his name back as UW coaches begged him back as Haener transferred to Fresno State and they were thin on QB depth. Then UW went out and recruited a grad transfer in the Sac State guy for next year.

Sirmon is a big, strong guy with a good arm, he's start at CWU and light it up. He profiles like a D-1 guy, but UW doesn't think much of him. There's no pro scouts who are looking at him. The UW and Sirmon himself have mismanaged his career, now he's sunk. It's like Bledsoe hanging around Wazzu as they took Minshew, Gordon, etc. (granted, Bledsoe was a walk-on). Bledsoe had a full ride at Northern Arizona, dumped it to walk on at WSU and didn't play a snap in 3 years there. These guys make crazy decisions. After year one it was obvious Bledsoe wasn't going to play at WSU -- ever.

Sirmon won't play at UW either -- ever. He'd sure do well at CWU, however, or Idaho, or EWU, or Montana, etc.

I never understood why someone offered a full ride somewhere would rather walk on at a bigger school... If you light it up at the smaller school, you can often transfer to a bigger one. That worked well for Minshew.

[tsull]

I imagine the mindset is that they're sure they're going to get their chance and will show all those NFL scouts how great they are and they won't get noticed in D2.

I look at a guy like Sirmon of UW right now as his collegiate clock is winding down. They've recruited over him THREE times. As a frosh he verbally committed, then Petersen went out and got Yankoff (now at UCLA) out of Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. Then Petersen took the transfer from Georgia, Jacob Eason. Sirmon then rightfully and wisely entered the transfer portal, but foolishly pulled his name back as UW coaches begged him back as Haener transferred to Fresno State and they were thin on QB depth. Then UW went out and recruited a grad transfer in the Sac State guy for next year.

Sirmon is a big, strong guy with a good arm, he's start at CWU and light it up. He profiles like a D-1 guy, but UW doesn't think much of him. There's no pro scouts who are looking at him. The UW and Sirmon himself have mismanaged his career, now he's sunk. It's like Bledsoe hanging around Wazzu as they took Minshew, Gordon, etc. (granted, Bledsoe was a walk-on). Bledsoe had a full ride at Northern Arizona, dumped it to walk on at WSU and didn't play a snap in 3 years there. These guys make crazy decisions. After year one it was obvious Bledsoe wasn't going to play at WSU -- ever.

Sirmon won't play at UW either -- ever. He'd sure do well at CWU, however, or Idaho, or EWU, or Montana, etc.

[Runnin' Cat]

We all know how the last Pac-12 transfer at QB did. Those are some huge shoes to live up to as it also includes a Grey Cup MVP.

Reilly was an interesting case. He was somewhere south of #5 on the depth chart. He came to Flathead HS as a senior and started at TE before becoming the QB and leading the Braves to the state title. He had signed at Mt Tech, then went to WSU as a walk on. He then came to CWU. Not sure I would consider him a "typical" PAC 12 QB transfer.

Funny thing is that neither Montana or Montana State recruited him much. Then he nearly beats the Griz in 2008.

[IronOre]

I'm always surprised these deep backup quarterbacks at Washington and Washington State don't transfer to Central Washington.

Mike Reilly and Cole Morgan had pretty good careers at Central. Winning program, nice facilities, it's a lot more attractive than sitting on a bench and never getting to play, while getting your brains beat out in practice.

I see former Oregon high school state player of the year,John Bledsoe, left Washington State after not playing for three seasons there. I wonder if Central would look at him or he would look at Central? Yes, he is Drew Bledsoe's son.

His uncle, Adam Bledsoe, transferred from Colorado to Western Oregon, and he set the school record for most interceptions in a season ... ouch! That was a Blaine Bennett move that didn't work out for the Wolves. But I think John Bledsoe is worth taking a flyer on.

I imagine the mindset is that they're sure they're going to get their chance and will show all those NFL scouts how great they are and they won't get noticed in D2.

[tsull]

I'm always surprised these deep backup quarterbacks at Washington and Washington State don't transfer to Central Washington.

Mike Reilly and Cole Morgan had pretty good careers at Central. Winning program, nice facilities, it's a lot more attractive than sitting on a bench and never getting to play, while getting your brains beat out in practice.

I see former Oregon high school state player of the year,John Bledsoe, left Washington State after not playing for three seasons there. I wonder if Central would look at him or he would look at Central? Yes, he is Drew Bledsoe's son.

His uncle, Adam Bledsoe, transferred from Colorado to Western Oregon, and he set the school record for most interceptions in a season ... ouch! That was a Blaine Bennett move that didn't work out for the Wolves. But I think John Bledsoe is worth taking a flyer on.

[Wildcat Khan]

Be good to have some competition at that spot. Loose Canon didn't do so well. Football Jesus was -okay-.

It's been so long it took me a while to remember all my stupid nicknames...

We all know how the last Pac-12 transfer at QB did. Those are some huge shoes to live up to as it also includes a Grey Cup MVP.

[CWU Wildcat Nation]

I liked Moore once he found his form. I think he is the clear starter but Brandon Battle, JJ Lemming, Quincy Glasper, and Jack Smith (I think?) will all be hungry for playing time.

[IronOre]

On Twitter, it appears CWU just added a QB transfer from the Pac-12 in Arizona State's Jack Smith. He played high school ball in Indiana before moving to Phoenix and then joining ASU where he was a backup for a season before missing the next THREE years due to injury. In recent news stories, they say he a 5th year senior. But on his Twitter he announced he still has 3 years of eligibility left, so he must've gotten some insanely generous waiver from NCAA. He was brought back to ASU by new OC Zak Hill, a former CWU QB. But Smith opted to enter the transfer portal, and I have to assume Hill put in a good word for Central!

https://twitter.com/TySmithAgent/sta...00959668117505

Update: The person who posted the video is telling me Smith is not with CWU (yet). So I am wondering why a QB from ASU is randomly training at Tomlinson Stadium in Ellensburg, WA. Has to be because he plans to play for CWU.

Be good to have some competition at that spot. Loose Canon didn't do so well. Football Jesus was -okay-.

It's been so long it took me a while to remember all my stupid nicknames...

[CWU Wildcat Nation]

On Twitter, it appears CWU just added a QB transfer from the Pac-12 in Arizona State's Jack Smith. He played high school ball in Indiana before moving to Phoenix and then joining ASU where he was a backup for a season before missing the next THREE years due to injury. In recent news stories, they say he a 5th year senior. But on his Twitter he announced he still has 3 years of eligibility left, so he must've gotten some insanely generous waiver from NCAA. He was brought back to ASU by new OC Zak Hill, a former CWU QB. But Smith opted to enter the transfer portal, and I have to assume Hill put in a good word for Central!

https://twitter.com/TySmithAgent/sta...00959668117505

Update: The person who posted the video is telling me Smith is not with CWU (yet). So I am wondering why a QB from ASU is randomly training at Tomlinson Stadium in Ellensburg, WA. Has to be because he plans to play for CWU.

[Wildcat Khan]

Totally agree, and I have heard that a lot of the FCS signings are indeed about telling their friends at parties that they signed D-1.

The GNCA's best-ever player, Mike Reilly, was at Washington State, as a backup QB. He transferred to CWU and the rest is history and he's cashed out in the CFL, and was MVP of the league.

Oregon State wanted Kevin Boss to walk-on. He didn't want to, and he also wanted the option of also playing basketball (which he did), and WOU opened the door. Concussions stopped a fairly solid NFL career, which included a Super Bowl ring.

WOU wide receiver Tyrell Williams had no D-1 offers; he just got injured for the Las Vegas Raiders (still not used to that), but not until he had signed a $44M contract.

I could go on ... former Humboldt State lineman Alex Cappa is a rich man while starting for the Tampa Bay Bucs.

You could go back farther to when CWU and WWU both still had football. Kitna (NAIA) and Koenen (D2) come to mind as two players from those days that had nice long NFL careers at 10+ years.

[tsull]

Lots of kids make bad decisions just to say they play D1 when their friends think D1 is Alabama but they're going to FCS Samford. If the kid gets a full ride, I think it's the right move. If the kid is getting a partial that means he ends up paying the same amount as if he would have stayed home, it's a bad choice.

Totally agree, and I have heard that a lot of the FCS signings are indeed about telling their friends at parties that they signed D-1.

The GNCA's best-ever player, Mike Reilly, was at Washington State, as a backup QB. He transferred to CWU and the rest is history and he's cashed out in the CFL, and was MVP of the league.

Oregon State wanted Kevin Boss to walk-on. He didn't want to, and he also wanted the option of also playing basketball (which he did), and WOU opened the door. Concussions stopped a fairly solid NFL career, which included a Super Bowl ring.

WOU wide receiver Tyrell Williams had no D-1 offers; he just got injured for the Las Vegas Raiders (still not used to that), but not until he had signed a $44M contract.

I could go on ... former Humboldt State lineman Alex Cappa is a rich man while starting for the Tampa Bay Bucs.

[Brandon]

This goes by my theory that an in-state Washington kid is better off not going half-way across the country to play middling FCS ball when he could play for a D2 power down the road and have his family watch him play. I get the scholarship aspects of it, .

Lots of kids make bad decisions just to say they play D1 when their friends think D1 is Alabama but they're going to FCS Samford. If the kid gets a full ride, I think it's the right move. If the kid is getting a partial that means he ends up paying the same amount as if he would have stayed home, it's a bad choice.

[tsull]

CWU has added another D1 running back transfer in Cameron McKinney from North Dakota (no, not ND State, but the other one). He played his senior year of HS at Garfield after moving from Texas. CWU should have an unstoppable running game with how deep of a backfield they have https://twitter.com/_longlive11/stat...72937399562240

This goes by my theory that an in-state Washington kid is better off not going half-way across the country to play middling FCS ball when he could play for a D2 power down the road and have his family watch him play. I get the scholarship aspects of it, but more often than not, Washington and Oregon kids who go off into the FCS ranks are often not heard of again. Of course, EWU is in the back yard, go there. Montana and MSU have done a solid job with Northwest kids. But I've seen good Salem/Portland kids go off to freaking Southern Utah and Weber State to be mired on benches in a place where they don't want to live, only to quit and end their football careers.

[CWU Wildcat Nation]

CWU has added another D1 running back transfer in Cameron McKinney from North Dakota (no, not ND State, but the other one). He played his senior year of HS at Garfield after moving from Texas. CWU should have an unstoppable running game with how deep of a backfield they have https://twitter.com/_longlive11/stat...72937399562240

[CWU Wildcat Nation]

Florida Tech cut their football. One of their former commits just committed to CWU: Wide receiver MJ Harris. From Chandler, AZ, he walked on at ASU in 2016 before going to play in a junior college amateur football league in AZ (remember AZ cut their official JC football). He was then on the roster at NAIA Arizona Christian but apparently redshirted. So over the last few years it appears he has not really played at all at the collegiate level. But a fresh start up at CWU. https://www.hudl.com/video/3/1090633...185f0d4cd0ab6c