CWU Offers Sophomore from...Alabama?

[Wildcat Khan]

Sorry for the confusion, actually it was one assistant coach (Blaine Bennett WOU era) that wanted that kind of recruiting in the Tri-Cities and he was at a booster event after a game. I think the boosters would prefer that they recruit Oregon first and then go outward, which they are doing.

But yes, I believe the current coaching staff has a very good eye on Hermiston High School, as they produce pretty good Division 2 type talent.

Thanks for the clarification! I remember a time though when any good Hermiston's player's parents would suddenly get a job offer in Pendleton. I'm really glad to see that has changed, although I know Bellevue got caught for something recently like that too by the WIAA. It was hard on those kids losing all their friends having to move in High School.

[tsull]

We were talking about WOU recruiting the Tri-Cities because boosters want it per what Tim said, not CWU recruiting. I have no idea how you went to CWU's recruiting for an Oregon school. As Tim pointed out, WOU does recruit the eastern side of the state along I-84. You were the only one talking about CWU recruiting Hermiston kids.

Sorry for the confusion, actually it was one assistant coach (Blaine Bennett WOU era) that wanted that kind of recruiting in the Tri-Cities and he was at a booster event after a game. I think the boosters would prefer that they recruit Oregon first and then go outward, which they are doing.

But yes, I believe the current coaching staff has a very good eye on Hermiston High School, as they produce pretty good Division 2 type talent.

[Wildcat Khan]

I am mentioning them because they are the primary source of recruits for CWU. Your premise was that Hermiston should somehow be on some recruiting radar.

I am finished with you on this.

We were talking about WOU recruiting the Tri-Cities because boosters want it per what Tim said, not CWU recruiting. I have no idea how you went to CWU's recruiting for an Oregon school. As Tim pointed out, WOU does recruit the eastern side of the state along I-84. You were the only one talking about CWU recruiting Hermiston kids.

[Runnin' Cat]

More small school props, I might be biased her having gone to a school with 800 students, but still I'm finding it interesting that the best CWU and WOU players in the last decade have come from small towns. I've already twice mentioned in this thread WOU players. Let's look at CWU:

Mike Reilly -- Kalispell, Montana (lived in Tri-Cities before moving)

Adam Bighill -- Montesano, Washington -- I don't know where that is and I pride myself on my Northwest geography knowledge.

Kevin Haynes -- Battle Ground, Washington -- I know where that is and it's not to be confused with Seattle or even Spokane.

I think there's a lot of hidden gems in the small high schools, especially since most FBS and FCS schools are too elitist to look their way.

Brock Osweiler went to Kalispelll and was recruited by Arizona State

Will Dissley went to Bozeman and was recruited by UW

Jake Blair at Camas will be going to Oregon State

Dylan Jemtegaard at Yelm will be going to Cal

Caden Jumper from Eatonville will be going to the UW

Ryan Kershaw at LaSalle is going to WSU

Jacob Shusster at Tumwater is going to Minnesota

There are a lot of small school kids that get recruited to the FBS and FCS. I just pointed out a few from Montana and some of the ones from this year that are going FBS. There are a lot of FCS as well.

The point is, your recruiting needs to be focused in higher population areas, and you also have to be aware of the small school kids that are studs. It is not an elitist thing; it is reality.

[tsull]

I am mentioning them because they are the primary source of recruits for CWU. Your premise was that Hermiston should somehow be on some recruiting radar.

I am finished with you on this.

WOU has a big offensive lineman on their team from Hermiston. Looks like they've done well recruiting the Columbia River region, 2 from The Dalles and 3 from Pendleton.

WOU has a nice, diverse geography footprint on their team, approximate numbers:

49 from Oregon
25 from California
19 from Washington
7 from other states -- Nevada, Hawaii, etc.

Going strong in California is good as the state has an enormous population but zero D2 schools north of Los Angeles and just two FCS schools in Northern California in Cal-Davis and Sac State.

Most of the Washington players are from the Puget Sound region or Vancouver area. Nice mix of small, medium, and large school players. Would like to see how they could recruit with more scholarships, right now A.D. is interim and president is either getting voted out or retiring, so that's in flux. Solid, veteran coaching staff knows how to find good recruits.

[Runnin' Cat]

Why are you mentioning WA HS's? Hermiston is in Oregon! Are you saying WOU should be recruiting those schools over those in Oregon?

I am mentioning them because they are the primary source of recruits for CWU. Your premise was that Hermiston should somehow be on some recruiting radar.

I am finished with you on this.

[Wildcat Khan]

I don't know if you realize this, but there are at least 50 HS with 1600 plus enrollments within an hour drive of SEA. Why is Hermiston more special than any of those close clustered places?

I never said they should overlook Hermiston. But why should you spend money and time on that place when you can get more in an "easier" place?

It isn't just Hermiston; there is a better, bigger market out there. Stop being so dense.

Why are you mentioning WA HS's? Hermiston is in Oregon! Are you saying WOU should be recruiting those schools over those in Oregon?

[tsull]

More small school props, I might be biased her having gone to a school with 800 students, but still I'm finding it interesting that the best CWU and WOU players in the last decade have come from small towns. I've already twice mentioned in this thread WOU players. Let's look at CWU:

Mike Reilly -- Kalispell, Montana (lived in Tri-Cities before moving)

Adam Bighill -- Montesano, Washington -- I don't know where that is and I pride myself on my Northwest geography knowledge.

Kevin Haynes -- Battle Ground, Washington -- I know where that is and it's not to be confused with Seattle or even Spokane.

I think there's a lot of hidden gems in the small high schools, especially since most FBS and FCS schools are too elitist to look their way.

[Runnin' Cat]

I don't know if you realize this, but Hermiston High also has about 1600 students. That would put them as a 6A (highest classification in Oregon) which is why they moved to Washington for atheletics as they were looking at 0 home games to join the Portland Metro conference and a total of 6+ hours drive time for each game with a 3+ hour drive each way. You are acting like they are size of Ellensburg High 2A school and that is way off for this school, when in reality they are larger than the 3 High Schools in Kennewick.

There was also a 4* basketball recruit out of Kittitas recently, but he left Gonzaga for personal reasons.

I don't know if you realize this, but there are at least 50 HS with 1600 plus enrollments within an hour drive of SEA. Why is Hermiston more special than any of those close clustered places?

I never said they should overlook Hermiston. But why should you spend money and time on that place when you can get more in an "easier" place?

It isn't just Hermiston; there is a better, bigger market out there. Stop being so dense.

[tsull]

One thing Western Oregon has really done well is found some shining stars from the small schools as I pointed out in this thread earlier. Their best returning player, in my opinion, is safety Curtis Anderson from Klamath Falls. They had an All-American safety and now an assistant coach of Western Oregon in Bryce Peila, who was from Crater High School. Both truly outstanding players and better than a lot of the big city kids they've gotten for that position group.

Of course you got to go to the population areas, I think Central Washington has found a great niche in Tacoma. But when you can find players like Tyrell Williams from Turner, Oregon; Curtis Anderson from Klamath Falls; Kevin Boss from Philomath, and on and on and on, I think it shows that at least for WOU that you can find some great Division 2 players at the small school levels. Yes, the Wolves still need to dip into Portland, Seattle now and then, Northern California. I seriously wouldn't waste my time in eastern Washington or other far-flung places when you can get a great player in a small town outside of Eugene, like they had with a recent linebacker.

[Wildcat Khan]

Quit being dense. Sure, there are one offs in several small communities. Does that mean you change your strategy on recruiting. Quit trying to change the economic model.

Dont use a small mind.

I'm just showing you it isn't the regular sized school for that size of a community. That is the size of the large schools in Oregon and Washington and more than for example Bellevue High which gets a lot of recruits. Hermiston's High School has always for some reason been around 10% the size of the community and has been over 1k students since the 90's. It is nothing like the 2A schools in Washington and has been a powerhouse in wrestling in Oregon since the 80's. As one of the larger high schools in Oregon, why should WOU not look at kids there with talent?

When I moved to Yakima from there in HS I'll admit it was abysmal at football having 1 win in 2 years, but my graduating class would have been larger there than it was in Yakima. They had one good year, but the coach got fired because he didn't play the 'right kids' to the boosters in a good ole boys style of way which hurt the football. That is why the football team was so bad, they played kids at that time who's parents had the most money and not the kids with the most talent.

[Runnin' Cat]

I don't know if you realize this, but Hermiston High also has about 1600 students. That would put them as a 6A (highest classification in Oregon) which is why they moved to Washington for atheletics as they were looking at 0 home games to join the Portland Metro conference and a total of 6+ hours drive time for each game with a 3+ hour drive each way. You are acting like they are size of Ellensburg High 2A school and that is way off for this school, when in reality they are larger than the 3 High Schools in Kennewick.

There was also a 4* basketball recruit out of Kittitas recently, but he left Gonzaga for personal reasons.

Quit being dense. Sure, there are one offs in several small communities. Does that mean you change your strategy on recruiting. Quit trying to change the economic model.

Dont use a small mind.

[Wildcat Khan]

Actually, Hermiston produced one of WOU's best-ever DB's a few years ago, name escapes me, unfortunately, but I remember he was from Hermiston and darn good. Always good for D2's to look in their state first and go outward. As for the Tri-Cities all the way to Yakima, some pretty good players in that area. Of course CWU should look in those places. WOU should not be wasting out of state scholarships. This is D2, not Power 5, most of the recruits are similar 1-star or no-star, really good prep players, not Pac-12 guys. WOU can spend in-state money on the Willamette Valley, Eugene, Roseburg, southern Oregon, Bend/Redmond, eastern Oregon, where they've had tons of great players throughout the years ... heck, the head coach was a great player and he's from Vale.

I see CWU has gone down to Oregon now and then, getting a QB from Gresham, who played zero downs. They're also better served recruiting Washington, which is the 2nd-best prep football state on the west coast, better than Arizona, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Idaho, etc. I don't have a problem with WOU dipping into Cali, QB Curry (last year's GNAC player of the year) was from a small northern Cali town; the current excellent RB is from the east Bay Area. I'd rather have recruits from there than striking out in the Tri-Cities. No reason to out-think things.

Exactly Tim! It makes no sense to center around recruiting out of state medium sized metro area for the bulk of your players. Maybe 1 every few years, but not as a pipeline. If recruiting budget is a reason not to look at Eastern Oregon, looking at Eastern Washington seems much worse for WOU. This is even more true as most D2 players don't get a full ride and would have to pay a lot for out of state tuition.

That is why I brought up Hermiston for you to appease them as it is in the same league now as the Tri-Cities.

Did you know Carny Lansfrord of the A's during the Bash Brothers era was from Baker (not calling it Baker City as it wasn't that at the time)? Also Brian Urlacher formerly of the Bears was from the Tri-Cities and one of the two best CWU QB's was too before he moved to Montana.

[Wildcat Khan]

It is simple economics. For every Kellen Moore, there are going to be ten kids in the PS. For Every Habib, there are going to be tend kids from the PS. It is "cheaper" to highlight your recruiting in the larger population areas. You are not going to heavily spend in a smaller on a consistent basis. Yes, those smaller areas will have exceptions. But how many D1 talents are coming up in the Kittitas Valley? There has been more D1 talent from one family in the Snoqualmie Valley than has been produced in Ellensburg.

Population is the key. Casey Fitzsimmons played for six years in the NFL. He is from Chester, MT and played 8 man football. Would you think it wise to start recruiting Chester?

I don't know if you realize this, but Hermiston High also has about 1600 students. That would put them as a 6A (highest classification in Oregon) which is why they moved to Washington for atheletics as they were looking at 0 home games to join the Portland Metro conference and a total of 6+ hours drive time for each game with a 3+ hour drive each way. You are acting like they are size of Ellensburg High 2A school and that is way off for this school, when in reality they are larger than the 3 High Schools in Kennewick.

There was also a 4* basketball recruit out of Kittitas recently, but he left Gonzaga for personal reasons.

[tsull]

Actually, Hermiston produced one of WOU's best-ever DB's a few years ago, name escapes me, unfortunately, but I remember he was from Hermiston and darn good. Always good for D2's to look in their state first and go outward. As for the Tri-Cities all the way to Yakima, some pretty good players in that area. Of course CWU should look in those places. WOU should not be wasting out of state scholarships. This is D2, not Power 5, most of the recruits are similar 1-star or no-star, really good prep players, not Pac-12 guys. WOU can spend in-state money on the Willamette Valley, Eugene, Roseburg, southern Oregon, Bend/Redmond, eastern Oregon, where they've had tons of great players throughout the years ... heck, the head coach was a great player and he's from Vale.

I see CWU has gone down to Oregon now and then, getting a QB from Gresham, who played zero downs. They're also better served recruiting Washington, which is the 2nd-best prep football state on the west coast, better than Arizona, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Idaho, etc. I don't have a problem with WOU dipping into Cali, QB Curry (last year's GNAC player of the year) was from a small northern Cali town; the current excellent RB is from the east Bay Area. I'd rather have recruits from there than striking out in the Tri-Cities. No reason to out-think things.