Cougar notes: Assistant wound up recruiting Smith-Wade twice

In trying to woo Chau Smith-Wade to the University of Wyoming football program last year, John Richardson said he tried to convince the young cornerback he was underrated — that he could actually play for a Power Five school.

Now they’re both at Washington State, trying to prove the validity of Robinson’s pitch.

Smith-Wade, a true freshman from Colorado, by way of Chicago, has drawn considerable buzz during preseason workouts as the Cougars prepare for their pandemic-delayed season opener Nov. 7 at Oregon State.

In December, he orally committed to a Wyoming staff that included Richardson, Jake Dickert and A.J. Cooper — all of whom later got hired at Washington State after Nick Rolovich landed the head-coaching job on Jan. 15.

Richardson found himself re-recruiting Smith-Wade, who withdrew his pledge to Wyoming in late January and committed to the Cougars a few days later.

“That definitely was a unique situation,” Richardson said in a recent Zoom news conference. “It was a situation where I’d recruited Chau since his junior year, had a genuine relationship, he came on a visit (to Wyoming) and the whole nine. ... Rolo got the job and bang, bang, boom, I’m looking at him on a recruiting visit here too. For us, it was kind of that clicking factor — I know who he is and he knows who I am. He’s a talented football player and it worked out great to have him here.”

During the Wyoming phase of their relationship, Robinson could offer no proof that Smith-Wade was Power Five material. The Cowboys, of course, are a Group of Five program, and the athlete’s other offers were coming from the likes of Temple, Ohio, Air Force and Western Michigan.

But Richardson’s colleagues share his high opinion of him.

“When you have a young guy like that who’s competing, everyone takes notice,” said Dickert, the new defensive coordinator. “He’s making plays constantly. When you get that, the standards keep raising and the old guys know to keep pushing.”

QB REPORT — A few days after choosing a No. 1 quarterback (but not identifying him publicly), Rolovich continues to give the impression of a tight race at that position.

He said all three of the top candidates — Camm Cooper, Gunner Cruz and Jayden de Laura — are playing better since he began giving the unnamed starter half the reps in practice Wednesday.

“I think it elevated the whole room, and in turn will help the offense get better,” he said in a Zoom news conference Friday. “There’s improved communication. There’s things we learn every day but I don’t think it’s necessarily attributable to one guy taking (half) the reps. I think it really sparked everybody: ‘OK, I’ve got to get better at this. I’m going to prove him wrong.’ And that’s what we told them to do.”

ISOM’S CACHET — In his radio show Thursday, Rolovich mentioned senior safety Daniel Isom made a strong also-ran showing in a recent player vote for captains.

This despite the fact Isom was cut from the team for unspecified reasons last year by then-coach Mike Leach. Rolovich restored him to the roster several months ago.

“He just came in and worked,” the coach said Friday. “He’s very consistent with this approach in practice. He’s a guy who leads by example; young guys have their eyes on him. I think he’s very grateful to be playing here, and I think he’s connected with a bunch of different people in the locker room in different ways.”

As reported earlier, the team captains are Max Borghi, Abe Lucas, Liam Ryan and Jahad Woods.

Grummert may be contacted at daleg@lmtribune.com or (208) 848-2290.