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In the end, Drue Jackson’s commitment was always going to take him out west.

On Friday afternoon, his announcement capped a pep rally at Sachse High School and the Rivals250 wide receiver committed to Washington State. Jackson became the Cougars' second four-star commit in 2018, and added another sparkle to an already bright season.

“The deciding factor was when I finally got up there and it was just a perfect fit,” he said. “When I got to meet coach (Mike) Leach, it was like I knew him before I knew him. He had been sending me hand-written stuff, but him in-person is just like a whole different thing.”

Jackson’s decision was the culmination of a long, steady recruitment by the Cougars and an official visit that went off without a hitch. Perhaps it’s not quite a coincidence that he had been discovered by receivers coach Dave Nichol, but the persistence that he showed in recruiting Jackson was as welcomed as it was a bit unexpected.

“Coach Nichol, he’s from Dallas and comes down here a lot, and he told me that you get all four seasons up there,” he said. “Me and him built a real good relationship throughout these last few years. He came out here last year in the spring talked in the talked for an hour, and he was just real.”

Once Jackson made it up to Pullman earlier this month, he saw first-hand what all the talk was about. Although he now hails from the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex, the twang in his voice is easy to hear and a more remote environment was something that appealed to him - as well as the relationships he quickly built with other Wazzu commits.

“The campus is really a college town, so I like that a lot,” he said. “Coach Leach is a character and I love him - he’s a good dude and so are all the receiver coaches. They took care of me while I was there and took care of my mom. They kept it real since they had been recruiting me since my sophomore year.

“One of the receivers that was on his official with me, Calvin Jackson, me and him have been real good friends since that official visit,” he added. “I got added to all the group messages with C-Coop [Cammon Cooper], one of the running backs and a bunch of other guys. I am going to try and go to the game next week when they play Stanford with a bunch of the commits.”

Jackson might have missed a bit of an opportunity to pick up a few more offers this past offseason as he wasn’t able to compete in many camps or seven-on-seven tournaments with minor knee injury. That may have been a favorable turn of events for the Cougars' staff, which clearly had identified him long before.

Over the course of his recruitment, Jackson said that he developed a good feel for what his role could be with the team early on. He knows he is going to have to put some work in up-front, but feels that there is a path for him to make a quick impact in the high-powered offense.

“I talk with the coaches weekly; every Wednesday or Thursday,” he said. “They told me that with my talent and my football I.Q. - because I’m not an early enrollee - Once fall camp starts and learn the offense, and I would have the opportunity to play as a true freshman.”

Washington State’s success in recent years almost seems like an afterthought for Jackson, who had so many other positive things to say about the program. He’s naturally had his eyes on the Cougars results this fall and has high expectations for rest of the season.

“When they first offered me I took note that coach Leach was there, but didn’t know too much else about them,” he said. “But once started to getting to know them, building those relationships, you could tell even just from the past couple of years that this is a good team that’s growing … I think that they can win the Pac-12, win out, and go to a good bowl game.”

Other teams could still try and sniff around Jackson between now and National Signing Day, but the foundation that has been laid over the past couple of years is going to be tough to rattle. He primarily chose Washington State over Utah, but it seems as though it would take a mighty effort to sway him away from his decision at this point.

“When I got out of practice yesterday, I saw that Wisconsin had texted me and asked me if it was too late,” he said. “So other schools are still in my phone, but I think right now I’m 100-percent Wazzu.”