In 2024 signing class, WSU coach Jake Dickert and Cougs prioritize defense and offensive line

Dec. 20—PULLMAN — In Jake Dickert's experience, sometimes it's about finding the right coach.

When a player hits the portal with one year of eligibility remaining, Washington State's head coach has learned, sometimes he doesn't care so much about the bells and whistles as much as he does playing for a coach he likes.

"And Frank did an amazing job of really gaining that kid's respect," Dickert said.

That would be WSU edges coach Frank Maile, who led the charge in recruiting Utah Tech transfer Syrus Webster, one of 25 Cougars to sign National Letters of Intent on Wednesday, the first day of this year's early signing period. A three-year veteran, Webster profiles as one — if not the — Cougar with the most potential to make an immediate impact next season, especially in the absence of graduated seniors Brennan Jackson and Ron Stone Jr.

But Webster stands out for another reason: He was the only college transfer to sign on . The other 24 players come from the high school ranks, from Canada to Washington to Tennessee, signaling that WSU may have achieved from the signing class what Dickert hoped it would — the beginning of something promising.

"This is about laying the foundation in our second full recruiting class of building our program to sustain the long haul," Dickert said. "That's the vision that I've always presented here. That's what it's gonna take for us to be successful. Excited about these guys, and I think some of them are going to be needed to make an impact early in their career."

It's clear Washington State placed its priority on a couple of areas: defense and offensive line. On defense, the Cougars are losing several impact players from last season, including top cornerbacks Chau Smith-Wade and Cam Lampkin, Jackson, Stone and safety Sam Lockett III.

On the offensive line, WSU is also losing starters Konner Gomness and Ma'ake Fifita, both of whom are forgoing their final year of eligibility. The Cougars had a forgettable year at that position too, a big reason why their offense struggled during their six-game losing streak. They found some prep stars to replace them — including 6-foot-8, 305-pound Seattle Prep product Chris Lino, who Dickert said is every bit those dimensions.

Nine of these 25 players will enroll in January and participate in spring practice: quarterback Evans Chuba; linebacker Frank Cusano; defensive back Jaylon Edmond; wide receiver Tony Freeman; offensive lineman AJ Hasson; running backs Josh Joyner and Wayshawn Parker; Webster; and defensive back Kenny Worthy III.

The Cougars are done signing high school prospects, Dickert said.

"But there will be some portal guys that we're working on signing those agreements here over the next few days," he added. "There's a couple pass-catchers out there that we're looking to add, and we'll see on a couple other areas."

Dickert and the Cougars also took pride in another factor. Even as the Pac-12 shuffles and WSU prepares to play Mountain West teams as part of a scheduling agreement, for the most part, they retained their entire signing class. They suffered just one decommitment, wide receiver Trae Davis, who flipped to Kansas State earlier this month.

Everyone else stayed on board with Washington State. That includes Hasson, who originally committed this summer but waited to share the news as the Pac-12 collapsed and he mulled things over, plus others who charted similar courses.

That matters to Dickert because he wants players who want to come to WSU for the experience in Pullman. That's a key reason why the Cougars placed such a high priority on prep stars over portal entrants. The Cougars aren't in a position to use name, image and likeness (NIL) dollars to hang on to players who might explore options in the transfer portal — so coaches sought players they felt would stay at WSU on a long-term basis.

At the heart of that approach, Dickert said, was finding in-state talent. The Cougars signed four from Washington: Lino, offensive lineman Carson Osmus, defensive back Tyson Weaver and fellow defensive back Kayo Patu, who played three years at a Sacramento, California, high school before playing his senior year at Roosevelt High in Seattle.

"We'll always start there. Recruiting starts in Washington," Dickert said. "That's been our promise to the high school coaches and this organization. And we will continue to do everything through our evaluation process to see those kids first — and that starts right away in January. Those are the first kids when we come back from break that we start watching and evaluating."

Washington State's full list of signees for the 2024 early signing period:

Chris Barnes, WR, North Shore HS (Texas)

Evans Chuba, QB, Clearwater Academy International (Florida)

Isaiah Cobbs, WR, Munford HS (Tennessee)

Jackson Cowgill, DL, Erie HS (Colorado)

Frank Cusano, LB, Granite Bay HS (California)

Camden DeGraw, edge, Coeur d'Alene HS (Idaho)

Dajon Doss, LB, St. Bonaventure HS (California)

Jaylon Edmond, DB, Western HS (California)

Tony Freeman, WR, College of San Mateo (California)

Hunter Haines, DB, West Linn HS (Oregon)

AJ Hasson, OL, Davis HS (California)

Josh Joyner, RB, Pacifica HS (California)

Chris Lino, OL, Seattle Prep (Washington)

Hyrum-Benjamin Moors, DT, Kahuku HS (Hawaii)

Carson Osmus, OL, Camas HS (Washington)

Wayshawn Parker, RB, Grant Union HS (California)

Kayo Patu, DB, Roosevelt HS (Washington)

Xavier Thorpe, OL, Livermore HS (California)

Tyson Weaver, DB, Eastside Catholic HS (Washington)

Syrus Webster, edge, Utah Tech

Kenny Worthy III, DB, Centennial HS (Arizona)

Malachi Wrice, edge, McAlester HS (Oklahoma)

Landon Wright, WR, Clovis West HS (California)

Kamani Jackson, DB, El Cerrito HS (California)

Dycurian Douglas, WR/DB, Paris HS (Texas)

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