If everything stays the same in the final day before National Signing Day on Wednesday, Head Coach Paul Wulff will haul in a recruiting class that ranks No. 35, according to Scout.com. The 2010 class will mark the highest-ranking class for WSU since 2004 when the Cougars were ranked No. 21.

In just his second full off-season, Wulff has already received commitments from 22 players and could add more as National Letters of Intent start coming in Wednesday, according to Scout.com. The gem of this year’s class is easily Aaron Dunn, a tight end from Mead High School in Spokane. Dunn, a four-star recruit according to Scout.com, has prototypical size for a tight end at 6-foot-6 and 235 pounds and is an excellent blocker, a crucial element for a team looking to shore up its offensive line. Starting tight end Tony Thompson is graduating in the spring, leaving a void for Dunn to fill.

If a team wants any success in football, its quarterback must feel comfortable in the pocket. The Cougar gunslingers didn’t have much success in 2009 in large part because they spent so much time on the ground. To help shore up these holes in the line, Wulff brought in a pair of junior college tackles who have already enrolled at WSU.

Wade Jacobson has the size to play right away at 6-foot-6 and 310 and turned down offers from Arizona and North Carolina to play for the Cougars. The other tackle, David Gonzales, is also 6-foot-6, but only weighs 275, according to Scout.com. He might need more strength to be able to handle Pac-10 football.

However, both should help the depth of a Cougar line that suffered injuries throughout the season and never really gelled as a unit. For the second straight season, Wulff has brought in a quarterback who has potential to bring plenty of wins to the Palouse. Three-star prospect Connor Halliday of Ferris led the Saxons to a 10-4 record his senior season and an appearance in the Washington’s 4A state championship, before falling to Skyline.

Halliday threw for 254 yards and three touchdowns in the title game after throwing four touchdowns in the semi-finals. He threw for 4,177 yards, 43 touchdowns and just 13 interceptions in his senior season.

While the Cougars return their top four receivers from 2009, a noticeable flaw in the WSU receiving corps is breakaway speed. Aside from junior Johnny Forzani, no one on the roster possesses truly game-changing speed.

At 6-foot, 185 and a 4.47 40-yard dash, receiver Robert Jiles will bring a good combination of size and speed to the receiving core at WSU. Jiles’ teammate at Pittsburg High School in California, four-star safety Erick Dargan, is also considering WSU. He has narrowed his choices to two schools: WSU and Oregon.

Back-to-back top 50 classes, WSU’s 2009 class ranked No. 43, should bring optimism that has been nearly nonexistent in Wulff’s first two seasons. The pair of classes are full of players ready to contribute now and help WSU make a real impact in the Pac-10 for the first time since 2007.