Chris Murray

cmurray@rgj.com

The Nevada football team has had a busy 48 hours of recruiting.

The Wolf Pack picked up two commitments from wide receivers Tuesday afternoon while parting ways with four other players in the last two days.

Elijah Cooks, a 6-foot-5, 215-pound receiver/tight end, and Benjamin Goodwin, a 6-1, 180-pound receiver/cornerback, both committed to play for Nevada.

Cooks, from Atascadero, Calif., caught 57 passes for 967 yards and 12 touchdowns as a high school senior. He rushed for 132 yards and two touchdowns on 16 carries. Unranked by the major recruiting sites, Cooks also had offers from Wyoming and San Jose State and interest from a number of other Mountain West schools.

“It’s not just big catches, it’s the normal catches,” Atascadero coach Vic Cooper told the Tribune News of Cooks during the season. “At times, when the offense wasn’t necessarily firing on all cylinders, he was able to carry us a little bit."

Cooks, who also returned punts, is a two-sport star at Atascadero High, which is just north of San Luis Obispo. He's averaging 13.8 points, 7.6 rebounds, 3.8 assists, two steals and two blocks per game for the basketball team.

Goodwin, from El Cajon, Calif., is an athletic two-way high school player who fits Nevada coach Jay Norvell's ideal of having versatility in his players.

During his senior season, Goodwin caught 60 passes for 1,140 yards and 13 touchdowns. He also rushed for 150 yards on 17 carries with a touchdown, threw two touchdowns and averaged 36.9 yards per kick return, scoring four more times on returns. He has excellent speed (he reportedly runs a 4.39-second 40-yard dash) and length and averaged 19 yards per catch.

Unranked by the major recruiting services, Goodwin also had scholarship offers from New Mexico, San Jose State, Montana State, Duquesne, Dixie State, Cal Poly, Southern Utah, Southwestern College and Sacramento State. Nevada's recruitment of Goodwin actually started under former coach Brian Polian, who offered him last May, which at the time was his first scholarship offer. He was re-recruited by Norvell's staff and was offered again by Nevada in late December.

The four players who recently de-committed from Nevada include: defensive back Nygil Johnson, who committed to Towson; offensive lineman Alfred Edwards, who committed to Utah State; defensive back/linebacker Danny Walker, who committed to Kansas State; and safety Michael Johnson, who committed to Arkansas State. All but Johnson originally committed to Nevada when Polian was the coach. Johnson had committed to Nevada less than 10 days ago.

The Wolf Pack also extended a scholarship offer Tuesday to three-star 6-foot, 265-pound defensive tackle Dominic Peterson, who had 109 tackles, 28 tackles for loss, 17 sacks and three forced fumbles this season for Narbonne High, one of the top football programs in Southern California. Peterson was named the area player of the year by the Daily Breeze newspaper. He also has offers from Syracuse, Sacramento State and West Liberty.

Verbal commitments are not binding and aren't official until players sign their letters of intent on Feb. 1.