WSU's football recruiting ranking takes jump

TWO FUTURE COUGARS skyrocketed up national recruiting ranks the other day -- one climbing nearly 50 spots at his position, the other nearly 40 -- and two other incoming new Cougs were elevated from 2-star prospects to 3-star. The result of it all is that WSU's overall ranking is now sitting in national recruiting territory that hasn't been seen in a number of years.

Washington State's recruiting class currently ranks No. 35 on Scout.com's national list. For the last several months, WSU has hovered in the 40s and low 50s.

Letter of Intent Signing Day is still more than two weeks off, so the rankings will be in constant flux between now and then. In addition to No. 35 nationally, WSU currently sits No. 7 in the Pac-10.

A year ago, WSU's class finished in the No. 43 spot. In 2008, the Cougs were No. 74 and in 2007 they concluded at No. 54.

In the latest player evaluations by Scout.com analysts, incoming Cougar Damnte Horton of Oakland rocketed from the No. 119-rated cornerback prospect in the land to No. 82.

At the same time, fellow future Cougar Asante Cleveland of Sacramento soared to No. 14 in the national tight end rankings, up from No. 63 previosuly. His elevation gives Wazzu two of the nation's top 15-ranked tight end prospects in the 2010 class. The other one is Aaron Dunn of Spokane's Mead High. He's a 4-star prospect ranked No. 9 in the country among tight ends.

Horton verballed to Washington State way back in June, but Scout.com hadn't been able to get a look at his game tapes until recently. Horton is a superb athlete -- perhaps one of the very best in the entire Bay Area, according to locals. CF.C plans to bring video clips to his player page shortly.

Like Horton, Cleveland's rise in the rankings stemmed from his tapes being reviewed by Scout.com analysts the other day.

They weren't the only two to see their stocks rise following a look at game tape. JC offensive tackles David Gonzales and Wade Jacobson were moved up to three stars Friday after Scout had a chance to view some tape on their '09 seasons. Both enrolled and began taking classes at Washington State this past week.

Another WSU verbal commit -- Wisconsin Gatorade Player of the Year Eric Oertel -- could see his status rise soon. Tape from his '09 season have not yet been evaluated by Scout.com's Midwest analyst but that is expected to happen soon.