College

Federal Way High School linebacker Jordan Pulu is one of six in-state signees in the 20-player football class signed by Eastern Washington.

Pulu is the younger brother of Andru Pulu, a defensive lineman who redshirted at Eastern last fall after transferring from Washington.

The Eagles' other in-state signees were safeties Jordan Thompson of Timberline in Lacey and Miquiyah Zamora of Chiawana in Pasco, defensive lineman Joe Hunt of Kamiakin High of Kennewick, guard Jerrod Jones of Lakewood and receiver Cooper Kupp of Davis High in Yakima.

Kupp is the son of Craig Kupp, a former Pacific Lutheran quarterback who is in that school's Hall of Fame.

"He's going to be a huge factor for us at receiver because there is going to come a time in a year or two where we lose some of our receivers who have done some great things," said Eastern coach Beau Baldwin.

The Eagles signed Bowe Merin, a quarterback from St. Mary's High School in Stockton, Calif. He becomes the third quarterback in the program hoping to replace graduated Bo Levi Mitchell. Mitchell won the Walter Payton Award as the best offensive player at the FCS level last season.

"He has a lot of similarities in body type to Bo Levi Mitchell and Erik Meyer (another former Eastern quarterback and Payton Award winner), and he can make throws when things aren't perfect around him," said Baldwin. "We're really impressed and excited that he is our quarterback in this class."

The Eagles signed six defensive backs.

"Every position required a hole or two to be filled, and we did a good job of that," said Baldwin. "We covered a wide range, both offensively and defensively. More specifically, the secondary was an area where we signed a few players.

"When you sign 70-75 percent of the players you bring onto campus, you feel pretty good," he added. "We feel strongly about signing the players we wanted. It's great."