SI All-American watch list: 4 Washington State commits and 5 key WSU targets named

Top 10 position rankings start this week; preseason SI99 out in August

Quarterback Xavier Ward out of Eleanor Roosevelt High in Corona, Calif., headlines a group of three Washington State verbal commits, along with 19 of the Cougars’ key targets in the 2021 recruiting cycle, who are candidates for the 2020 Sports Illustrated All-America team of high school senior football players.

Ward is a 6-3, 195-pound dual-threat QB who verbally committed to the Cougars in June. He possesses a big-time arm and outstanding mobility. His father Orlando is a former Stanford basketball player.

Listed below is the full breakdown of WSU verbals and prime targets on the SI All-American watch list.

VERBAL COMMITS

QB Xavier Ward/6-2, 195/ Cornia, Calif.

WR Orion Peters/5-10, 170/Inglewood, Calif.

OG Brock Dieu/6-2, 278/ Queen Creek, Ariz.

DB Jaden Hicks/6-2, 192/Las Vegas, Nev.

TOP TARGETS

RB Justin Johnson/5-11, 190/ Edwardsville, Ill.

WR Junior Alexander/6-3, 189/Burien, Wash.

WR Cameron Bonner/5-11, 173/ Houston, Texas

WR Alonzo Fontenette/6-3, 175/Westlake Village, Calif.

OL Isaia Glass/6-5, 245/Queen Creek, Ariz.

More than 1,000 student-athletes, representing every state in the country, are SI All-American candidates. Video highlights, scouting analyses and a list of each player’s college verbal commitment and/or top college contenders can be found on their bio pages, broken down by state, at SIAllAmerican.com.

Over the coming weeks, SI will unveil its preseason top 10 for each of 14 position groups (kicking off with quarterbacks this week). SI will unveil its initial top 99 ranking, the SI99, on August 24.

The evaluation process will continue throughout the season “until the list of 1,000 contenders coalesces around just 25 young men who can say proudly they are the best of the best -- they are Sports Illustrated All-Americans,” said SI Director of Football Recruiting John Garcia, Jr.

The candidates will be narrowed to 250 in October and 99 in November, and will culminate with 25 first-team Sports Illustrated All-Americans saluted at SI’s annual Sportsperson of the Year banquet in New York in December. -END-