THE FRONT ROW with MARK NELKE: When local teams recruit local, and can’t wait for Gonzaga-WSU

Few things stay the same.

The first Wednesday in February used to be the big day of the college football offseason — National Signing Day.

(Then again, next year Washington State and Oregon State will play football, basketball and several other sports in a conference that doesn’t include Oregon, Washington, UCLA, USC, Stanford and Cal).

Anyway, now the big signing day is the third Wednesday in December, so I guess college football fans should consider this an early Christmas present.

MOST OF the recruits that sign with our local schools come from elsewhere in the country. Few of the names are familiar — their accolades and gaudy stats mean little until they actually show up on campus and prove what they can do at the college level.

The cool part is when local kids are good enough to get recruited by local schools. 

The Idaho Vandals said the company thing — that they like to shop local. But the Vandals actually backed it up last year, bringing in six local high school standouts — two from Lake City, two from Lewiston, one from Post Falls and one from Priest River.

This year, Idaho signed just one player from North Idaho — Lakeland kicker Owen Forsman — but also signed kids from nearby East Valley and Rogers, and signed four players from the Boise area.

Washington State rarely brings in anyone from North Idaho, but this year the Cougars signed edge rusher Camden DeGraw from Coeur d’Alene High, so that will be fun to watch a local kid progress in Pullman — wherever the Cougs end up playing the next few years.

Eastern Washington also rarely signs anyone from North Idaho, but the Eagles landed two this year in linebacker Shea Robertson (Coeur d’Alene) and tight end Asher Bowie (Post Falls). 

It’s always a nice subplot when regional rivalries feature kids from around here.

At Montana, defensive end Kale Edwards (Coeur d’Alene) had the key strip-sack that finished off the Grizzlies’ win over the Vandals at the Kibbie Dome earlier this season. And Brandon Casey (Sandpoint) is a two-year starter at right tackle for the Griz, who are playing in the FCS championship next month.

BACK TO that WSU/OSU news.

Most of the chatter had the Cougars and Beavers merging with the Mountain West — but finding a way to brand it as the Pac-Whatever, which sounds like a more prominent league.

So it was a surprise to see WSU and OSU reportedly close to becoming affiliate members of the West Coast Conference in “Olympic” sports for the next two seasons.

The best part is that Gonzaga will have to play Washington State each of the next two years — at least twice a season. The Zags and Cougs haven’t played since 2015 and, well, it wasn’t because WSU didn’t want to play Gonzaga, we’ll put it that way.

With BYU gone to the Big 12, WSU and, to a lesser extent, OSU will make the WCC better in men’s basketball (both women’s programs are REALLY good). 

The WCC needs some better teams because Saint Mary’s is the only other team capable of winning the league, in addition to Gonzaga, which is usually the de facto favorite.

Sounds like the proverbial win-win for all — and we’ll especially look forward to those two Gonzaga-WSU games each season, particularly the ones in Pullman.

Mark Nelke is sports editor of The Press. He can be reached at 208-664-8176, Ext. 2019, or via email at mnelke@cdapress.com. Follow him on X (formerly Twitter) @CdAPressSports.