With the roster shuffling underway, WSU added another piece to the puzzle Saturday securing a commitment from Zevi Eckhaus, a quarterback transfer from Bryant University where he spent three seasons.
With star QB Cam Ward’s departure to the NFL Draft, backup John Mateer was in line to step into his place, but now there appears to be a competition. WSU has already added multiple receivers, retained most of its tailbacks, tight ends and offensive linemen, and now has another option to operate the offense.
In 2023 the 6-foot, 1-inch, 205-pound junior from Culver City, California completed 238 of 379 pass attempts for 2,907 yards and 28 touchdowns. Eckhaus registered a career-high 147.9 passer rating and 62.8 completion percentage with seven interceptions. He also won Big South-OVC Offensive Player of the Year and was a finalist for the Walter Payton Award, the award for the top FCS player in the country.
Eckhaus caught fire in his final four games, throwing for over 300 yards and at least four touchdowns in each game while throwing for 394 yards and six touchdowns on just 28 pass attempts in his final game of the season against South Eastern Missouri. He also ran for a career-high 353 yards a season ago.
The Cougs made a similar move when Ward transferred to WSU two years ago from FCS Incarnate Word, and look to achieve similar success with Eckhaus.
Eckhaus was originally committed to Jacksonville State but backed out because portal players do not enter binding agreements until they enroll at their new school. Eckhaus joins high schooler Evans Chuba as the second QB in the 2024 signing class.
The Cougs’ 2024 class now contains eight transfers and sits at 31 players overall. The competition is now on to see who will captain the ship for the Cougar offense in their first season outside of the Pac-12.
