Future, current and old Cougs making news

WASHINGTON STATE'S incoming class of baseball recruits will arrive in Pullman with no shortage of honors. High school All-State rosters up and down the West Coast are dotted with future Cougars, including two who earned player of the year plaudits.

Catcher Josh Leyland is the Division IV Player of the Year in Southern California, and Cedarcrest pitcher Travis Cook has been named Class 2A Player of the Year in Washington.

Richland’s Brett Jacobs made the Washington 4A first team at shortstop, and South Kitsap’s Brady Steiger made the team as an infielder.

The 3A first team includes Shorecrest pitcher-first baseman James Robbins as well as Ferndale pitcher-infielder Casey Locker, who is headed to WSU to play football. Locker was also an All-State selection in football.

Friday Harbor pitcher Richie Ochoa made the Class A-B first team, while down Utah way, Judge pitcher-infielder A.J. Carman made the 3A first team, and Cottonwood pitcher Kendall Mayer made the 4A second team.

Cougar head coach Donnie Marbut said it’s too early to tell if Leyland and Robbins will wind up in Pullman or sign with the major league organizations that drafted them last week.

“All kids will listen (to pro offers),” Marbut said.

Leyland went to Oakland in the 16th round and Detroit nabbed Robbins in the 30th round.

Marbut also said he was “surprised and disappointed” that WSU senior catcher Greg Lagreid was not drafted. Lagreid’s batting average improved every season in college, and Marbut respected Lagreid’s defense and intelligence so much that he let him call pitches this year. Lagreid was picked to the All-Pac-10 team this season.

IN THE FOOTBALL recruiting wars, Scout.com ranks WSU’s early collection of verbal commitments for 2010 at seventh in the Pac-10 and 48th nationally. Letters of intent can’t be signed until February.

With five verbal commitments so far, the Cougars are tied for fifth-most in the Pac-10. Stanford has the most, with 17. Washington, with 10 verbals and three soft verbals, is the only other school in double figures. UCLA, with one known verbal in the form of Julious Moore of Bellevue, is tenth.

Three of WSU's verbals are rated three stars on a scale of 1-5. Two others are rated ones, which means they haven’t been evaluated yet by Scout analysts.

The top-rated Cougar verbal is Mead’s Aaron Dunn. He’s ranked the state’s No. 6 overall recruit and the No. 9 tight end in the nation.

ADD SPORTING NEWS to the growing list of “experts” predicting the Cougars will finish last in the Pac-10 this season. TSN ranks WSU 110th out of 120 teams in the Bowl Championship Subdivision (formerly NCAA Division I-A).

COUGAR WIDE RECEIVER Jeshua Anderson last week became just the third sophomore ever to repeat as NCAA champion in the 400 hurdles. Anderson is set to join other current and former Cougars, including distance running sensation Bernard Lagat, at the USA Track & Field Outdoor Championships on June 25-28 in Eugene. Top performers advance to the world championships in Berlin.

FORMER COUGAR STAR Ryan Leaf added to his troubles Wednesday when he was arrested by customs agents as he attempted to cross the border from Canada to the United States. The 33-year-old was released on bail three hours later.

“He was cooperative, and it was a routine arrest,” U.S. Customs and Border Protection spokesman Mike Milne told The San Diego Union-Tribune.

A warrant had been out for Leaf’s arrest since May 20 in Canyon, Texas, the home of West Texas A&M. Leaf had been quarterbacks coach and men’s golf coach of the Aggies before he resigned last November after investigations began that led to drug and burglary charges against him.

Kelly reiterated previous statements that Leaf had been working in Canada and was returning to Canyon this week to post a $15,000 bond.

Kelly said Leaf’s legal problems stem from his use of the pain killer Hydrocodone. Kelly said Leaf has completed drug rehab therapy.
Read more: http://www.sdnn.com/sandiego/2009-06-18/news/ryan-leaf-released-from-jail-on-bail#ixzz0In61p1R0&C