COUGAR NOTES: Rogers, Washington State football building staff, roster

More than a dozen cars, many of them with North Dakota license plates and some with belongings still packed into the backseats, lined the Gesa Field concourse on Thursday during Jimmy Rogers’ hiring ceremony in Pullman.

Rogers, Washington State’s new head football coach, has hired over a dozen assistant coaches and staff members from South Dakota State and added others with connections to his colleagues or the Pacific Northwest in the three weeks since athletic director Anne McCoy officially hired him.

Each coach and their families loaded their cars and left for Pullman almost immediately. With the spring semester underway and the transfer portal still open for the Cougs, there remains lots of work to build the roster and program and prepare for the 2025 season.

“I didn’t come here to lose and nor did this coaching staff. I believe in this. I believe in this,” Rogers said in his introductory news conference last week. “We’re going to do everything that we can to get on the top of college football.”

Here’s a look at the coaching and player additions Rogers has made since his hire:

Rogers builds his staff

After his formal introduction to WSU, Rogers formally announced the hiring of nine assistant coaches, each of whom worked for him at SDSU.

Rogers hired Danny Freund and Jesse Bobbit as his offensive and defensive coordinators, respectively. Both held those positions at SDSU. Freund will double as quarterbacks coach and Bobbit will coach linebackers as well.

Freund led a Jackrabbit offense which featured five All-Americans.

Bobbit returns to Pullman where he was a graduate assistant when former coach Jake Dickert was defensive coordinator in 2020 and 2021. He played for and coached under Rogers at SDSU.

Rogers also hired Michael Banks (cornerbacks), Pete Menage (safeties), Pat Cashmore (special teams coordinator/assistant tight ends), Taylor Lucas (offensive line), Robbie Rouse (running backs), Chris Meyers (tight ends) and Jake Menage (wide receivers).

Matt Jacobs will follow Rogers to Pullman as his head strength and conditioning coach. Marcus Banks will serve as assistant strength and conditioning coach.

The Cougars’ specialty staff is a mix of former South Dakota State staffers and returning WSU staffers.

Rogers brought his chief of staff, Jon Shaeffer, from Brookings to Pullman. He also elevated Taylor Long to director of football operations and retained Kingston Fernandez as assistant director of football operations. Long was the director of on-campus recruiting on Dickert’s staff.

Kristofer Kracht, former South Dakota State director of football mental performance, took the same position at WSU.

Other staff members announced include:

Andrew Lucas (scout)

Payton Shafer (defensive graduate assistant)

Kyle Saddler (offensive GA)

Ron Pavlik (Assistant special teams coach)

New Cougs on the block

Linebacker Gavin Barthiel is the 20th transfer to commit to WSU this season and the fifth from a school other than South Dakota State.

The junior linebacker from Lake Gibson High in Florida most recently played for Utah State in 2023. He was not on the Aggies’ roster in 2024.

Barthiel began his college football career at WSU in 2021 which he chose over offers from Georgia Tech, Mississippi State, Missouri and others. He redshirted in ’21 and then played in five games on special teams in 2022.

He transferred to Utah State in 2023, where he played with the special teams units for 13 games.

Barthiel’s return to WSU reunites him with Bobbit, a WSU defensive GA in 2021.

WSU also added Michigan State transfer tight end Ademola Faleye.

Faleye — a native of Brockton, Mass., in the Boston area — caught two passes for 18 yards last year at Michigan State. He played in all 12 games with one start. In 2021-23, he reeled in nine catches for 93 yards and two touchdowns at Norfolk State of the Football Championship Subdivision. He arrives at WSU with one more year of eligibility.

WSU’s biggest transfer portal addition is juco wide receiver Devin Ellison.

Ellison totaled 45 catches for 837 yards and 16 touchdowns in 10 games last season at Monterey Peninsula (Calif.). The college football recruiting website 247sports.com ranked Ellison as the No. 6 available junior college receiver in the transfer portal.

Rogers spoke of transforming WSU into a national title contender with the expanded College Football Playoff as its opportunity.

Ellison has not shied away from this rhetoric.

“Coug Nation. We will be competing in the CFB playoffs. Getcha (popcorn) ready. #GoCougs #Wazzu #newera,” Ellison posted on X (formerly Twitter) on Friday.

At 6-foot-2 inches tall and 195 pounds, Ellison will compete for a significant role immediately. The Canton, Ga., native joins a wide receiver room that includes Josh Meredith and Tre Shackelford, who each entered the portal but withdrew shortly after Rogers was hired.

Rogers has also added two Cal Poly transfers in cornerback Kai Rapolla and defensive tackle Soni Finau and Southwestern Oklahoma State transfer punter Dylan Mauro, an NCAA Division II transfer.

In 11 games in 2024, Rapolla recorded 41 tackles, five pass breakups and two interceptions.

In a 34-29 loss to Idaho in Moscow last season, Rapolla made seven tackles, intercepted a pass and returned it 19 yards and returned a fumble 81 yards.

Finau played in 11 games in 2024 and one in 2023. He had 11 tackles combined through those 12 games with one forced fumble.

In 64 punts last year for Southwestern Oklahoma State, Mauro averaged 43.2 yards per punt with 19 inside the 20 and 10 for 50-or-more yards.

Rogers has added a total of six high school recruits in his three weeks on the job, most recently welcoming cornerbacks Trillion Sorrell (Edina, Min.) and Tyrone Cotton (Glenview Ill.), plus athlete Damarius Russell (Waseca, Minn.).

Of the 120 players on WSU’s roster: 16 have graduated, 36 left via the transfer portal and 10 entered the portal and withdrew to return to WSU.

Rogers has added 20 transfers, including 15 who are from South Dakota State.

A steady start with lots of work still to go for the Cougars’ new boss.

Taylor can be reached at 208-848-2268, staylor@lmtribune.com or on X (formerly Twitter) @Sam_C_Taylor.