The CWU football program hosted its signing day at the Ellensburg Brewery last Wednesday, Feb. 7. The room had soft lighting, the tables had CWU football helmets on them and as you walked in everyone grabbed a plate of food and some drinks. 

The team signed 28 athletes overall, 23 were incoming freshmen and five were transfers from various cities and states. While this group of recruited athletes was very diverse, one thing they all had in common was their passion for CWU football.

While head football coach Chris Fisk has been with the Wildcats since 2016, he’s only held the head coach position for the last five years. He first entered the program as the offensive line coach and co-offensive coordinator, but by 2019 he was the rookie head that helped guide CWU to its third straight Great Northwest Athletic Conference championship title. That season Fisk posted a 5-1 mark in league play and a 7-4 record overall and has been building his team up to be the best they can ever since.

“We have a really good group of winners coming to Central Washington University,” Fisk said. There are 15 first team all-conference players coming to CWU, six team most valuable players, four state champions and six conference players of the year. 

CWU’s football program successfully recruited 13 athletes who had received offers from other Division II schools and five athletes who had offers from Division I schools.

For student-athletes at CWU, academics come first. “The biggest thing to talk about is the 3.4 GPA for this group of guys coming in,” Fisk said. 

Along with this day of recognizing new athletes attending CWU, the football program also recognized athletes who continued their football careers post college who they call “Pro-Cats.” First is former CWU quarterback Reilly Hennessy who resigned with the Stuttgart Surge in the European League of Football. Next was former CWU defensive back Patrick Rogers who will be attending a Pro Day in hopes of playing in the NFL. Proceeding was former CWU linebacker Adam Bighill, the 2023 Canadian Football League Players’ Association All-Star who plans to resign with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers. Lastly, former CWU offensive line player James Moore re-signed with the BC Lions for his second season in the Canadian Football League.

It was announced that spring season play will take place from April 2 to May 4 and practices will be on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. and on Saturdays from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m. The Wildcats will also be hosting a kids camp this year on Friday, April 26 at 5 p.m.

“We want guys that you guys would be proud of downtown,” Fisk said. CWU football finished second in the Lone Star Conference with a record of 7-1 last season but with the new talent coming in, the Wildcats’ prospects for the upcoming season are unknown and fans will have to stay tuned to see how the team fares.