WSU WR Tre Shackelford enters the transfer portal
PULLMAN – Washington State is getting a little thinner at the wide receiver position.
Rising senior Tre Shackelford entered the transfer portal on Friday, a source confirmed to The Spokesman-Review, moving on after one full season with the Cougars. A former Austin Peay transfer, Shackelford earned first-team reps during spring ball, meaning WSU is losing a likely starting wideout.
On Dec. 16, Shackelford entered the portal, doing so shortly after former head coach Jake Dickert departed for the same job at Wake Forest. Twelve days later, Shackelford withdrew his name. About three months after that, Shackelford is back in the portal.
On 3 Sports was the first to report Shackelford’s latest entrance into the portal, indicating he did so with a “Do Not Contact” tag, which players often use when they have a destination lined up. The spring portal window closes Friday, so Shackelford just beat the buzzer.
Shackelford is the 24th Cougar to enter the portal this spring. The full list is available here. Many are walk-ons or players who didn’t figure to see much playing time this fall, part of the team’s effort to make the most out of incoming roster limits of 105 players.
Last fall, his first and only season in a WSU uniform, Shackelford totaled 10 catches for 144 yards and one touchdown. He appeared in eight games with two starts, missing the later part of the season with an injury. He found a niche as a backup receiver, making as many as three catches in a game, doing so twice.
Shackelford started his career with three seasons at FCS Austin Peay, where he made 52 catches for 799 yards and six touchdowns in 2023 before transferring to WSU in January 2024. He took part in that season’s spring ball, then slotted in as a backup wideout during the season, getting a bit lost in the shuffle of a crowded wide receiver corps.
As new head coach Jimmy Rogers and offensive coordinator Danny Freund install their schemes, which figure to include a run-heavy approach similar to what they ran at South Dakota State, Shackelford could have been in line for a lesser role than the one he enjoyed in the Cougars’ previous offense, which leaned more on the pass.
Without Shackelford, WSU gets even lighter on experience at that spot going into this fall. The Cougars’ projected starters include junior college transfer Devin Ellison and veteran returner Josh Meredith, but only the latter has played Division-I ball.
Former junior college transfer Tony Freeman, an undersized speedster who started one game last fall, could also see a bigger role.
It’s also possible the Cougs elevate senior receiver Leon Neal, who enjoyed a good spring, earning praise from Rogers on multiple occasions.
A 5-foot-10 senior, Neal earned a scholarship this spring, perhaps signaling Rogers and Freund are ready to entrust him with a bigger role this season.
But Neal has yet to play significant snaps, so WSU could also opt to add a veteran wide receiver out of the transfer portal.
The Cougars could certainly use the experience, considering only one of their projected starters, Meredith, has Division I experience.
Even his resume is relatively light: In three years of action, Meredith has combined for 43 catches for 530 yards and three touchdowns, with a majority of those last season.