Jordan Railey talks about WSU commitment
COUGARS
FROM PULLMAN -- Spoke for a bit earlier this evening with former Iowa State center Jordan Railey, who has given his commitment to transfer to Washington State next season. Here's a part of our conversation.
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First, here's our short story for the paper, as well as Railey's Iowa State bio, his career statistics and his game logs from his freshman and sophomore seasons.
On to the Q-and-A.
(How'd you settle on WSU?) "I’ve known coach Bone since about the end of eighth grade through beginning of ninth grade. I had a really close relationship with him in high school, and he continued to recruit me while he ended up moving to Washington State. I felt like it was going to be the best fit for me. I felt like we could have a really good matchup together."
(Why did you leave Iowa State?) "Pretty much it was a mutual agreement between me and coach. I didn’t get to play that much last year. I don’t think I really fit the coach's style of offense out here. I just felt like it would be a better choice for me to leave."
(Were you thinking WSU the whole time?) "I was hoping once I made that decision, but before my release got out, I was hoping that I was going to hear from Washington State. Coach Bone contacted my AAU coach once my release got out there and it just kind of went from there."
(How familiar are you with the current team?) "I didn’t get to watch them play as much this year because I was on the road all the time and we’re out here in the Midwest. From my senior year in high school when I used to watch DeAngelo Casto play, I thought coach Bone did a tremendous job with him, being able to feed him the ball, have a big bodied presence in there. I think I can do something similar to that. I was the leading shot blocker in the state of Oregon my senior year with 4.7 or 4.6 per game. I think I can really bring that to the table on the defensive end. Also, I just love playing defense. As far as offensively, I’m pretty good offensively, and I'm going to continue to work on that, and coach Bone knows that and he knows my potential."
(Will you be here for the summer bridge program in June?) "Yeah, I'll be there around then."
(Any additional academic requirements you have to satisfy as a transfer?) "It’ll pretty much be clear for me. I just had to finish up the year and it should be a smooth transition for me here to Washington State."
(Did you consider WSU at all out of high school?) "Coming out of high school, I didn’t have the grades to come up there. I had to work really hard on that. If I would have had the grades I probably would have gone up there for my freshman year."
(Has your body type changed much since high school?) "My body type hasn’t changed that much. I put on some weight since high school. I’m a lot stronger, a lot more skilled offensively and defensively. I’ve worked on a lot of different things. Biggest thing I’ve gotten better at was just getting stronger. I wasn’t focused on putting on a whole lot of weight. I felt slow my freshman year, felt that being a heavier-set big wasn’t really my game."
(What are you at now?) "I'm at 245 pounds, probably could play at 250, would prefer to just stay at 240-245. Freshman year was 255 and I felt like I was really slow, wasn’t moving like I knew I could, wasn’t jumping as high as I could. That kind of made me change back to the way I was in high school, but just kept my strength up."
(Do you think you'll sign soon?) "I haven’t talked with coach Allen yet. I know I’m going to sign a national letter here at some point. I’ll be back in Oregon, not this weekend but next weekend, so it’s right around the corner. I would assume that I would do that at home." (Note: I said "letter of intent" in my question, but I realize I may have erred. My guess would be that Railey will sign a financial aid agreement and not an actual NLI. Players are generally only allowed to sign one NLI in their career.)
(What were your other offers?) "San Francisco, Idaho and Boise State. … I considered San Francisco and Boise State a little bit, and Idaho as well. I was really considering them all, but what got me over the hump was the relationship with coach Bone. It was kind of a long ordeal from my side, but I just felt like I needed to go ahead and make that decision. I knew the campus already, I'd been on the visit in high school, I’d known coach Bone for so long. I wasn’t too worried about choosing this school. After looking at the other schools, it was very clear to me that I needed to just go ahead and go to Washington State."
(Anything else you want fans to know?) "I’m just really excited to be a part of the Cougar family now. I couldn’t thank the coaching staff enough to give me this opportunity to come out there and prove to everyone what I’m capable of, and hopefully give that big presence that will help to get us to the NCAA tournament."
Christian Caple can be reached at christianc@spokesman.com. Twitter: @ChristianCaple