Charlie Enquist, the 6-foot, 10-inch center out of King’s, has signed a letter of intent and received a full-ride scholarship from Washington State.
Enquist was ready to sign with Northern Colorado but when the Cougars called with an offer, the senior from Edmonds quickly changed his mind. Joining the Cougars, who had their best season in 60 years this past year, was a dream come true.
“They were really successful last year,” Enquist said. “I hope I can contribute to that later down the road. It’s really good. I’m really looking forward to this opportunity.”
Enquist will report to school Aug. 15.
“We were really excited about him,” said WSU assistant Ben Johnson. “We really feel Charlie has a lot of potential. He has a lot of room for growth. There aren’t that many 6-10 players around in the Pacific Northwest.
“We feel in (WSU) coach (Tony) Bennett’s system, especially offensively, he fits our program. He fits our style of play. He fits our needs at that position.”
The Cougars, who made the NCAA tournament for the first time in 13 years last season, plan to have Enquist redshirt his freshman year to work on his game and bulk up.
“The other thing that’s attractive about him , he appears to have the frame,” Johnson said. “He’s going to put on weight with a weight and conditioning program.”
The Cougars scouted Enquist since his sophomore year and witnessed his progress. Johnson credited veteran King’s coach Marv Morris for helping Enquist develop his game over the last two years.
Enquist broke his shooting wrist during the bi-district playoffs in March and missed the 1A state tournament but is now 100 percent. Bennett saw him play in a AAU tournament in Las Vegas in late April and left impressed.
“I think that’s what really sold him,” Johnson said.
The fact that Enquist’s father, Paul Enquist, was a standout rower at Washington State who graduated in 1977 was a bonus. He went on to win an Olympic gold medal in the Los Angeles games in 1984 in men’s double sculls.
Enquist received attention from other schools like Seattle University and Portland State but as Johnson put it, “he wasn’t overly recruited like a lot of our players.”
Johnson said the formula developed by Bennett, the Associated Press’ men’s college basketball coach of the year, is to take players who are good people and students with good skills and “coach them up.”
“We couldn’t be happier to add another kid from the Pacific Northwest,” Johnson said.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
