UW Recruiting- Quarterback & Running Back

National letter of intent day is now about a month away, which is the first time high school football players can officially sign with the school they’ll attend next year.  With Danny Shelton’s commitment last night, the Huskies currently have 20 commitments.  One of them, LB Thomas Tutogi, has already signed papers because he is coming from a junior college and can enter earlier.  It’s expected that UW will take between 25-30 commits this year.  The actual limit is 25 per year, but some will enter school early and count against last year’s class while others will never make it into school at all.

This seems like a good time to look at the current group of commits and assess the class.  The last 5-10 guys will be a combination of big time recruits who are waiting until close to LOI day to commit and lesser known guys who are offered to fill holes in the class.  We’ll break this down by position since I’ve already written one mammoth post this weekend!

First up: the offensive backfield, an area that’s garnered a lot of attention but few commitments this year.  All info taken from Scout.com, my favorite recruiting site.  Check their Dawgman.com  site for Husky specific news.

Quarterback

Commits

Joseph Gray  6′ 175 lbs.  Dorsey HS (Los Angeles)

Overview

After losing out on a number of top QB recruits early, most notably UCLA commit Brett Hundley, the Huskies offered Gray and he committed soon after.  His size obviously isn’t ideal, but he comes from a high school program that throws a lot and he has a good arm and accuracy.  Gray reportedly has good athleticism but isn’t really a runner.  Given the nature of the position, he seems like the type who will either really blossom into something or hold a clipboard for four years.  It seems the Huskies would like to take another QB in the class, but they don’t currently appear to have any offers out to uncommitted players at the position.  The position could use some depth so it wouldn’t surprise if another commit pops up, but at this point I have no idea who it might be.

Running Back

Commits

FB Dezden Petty 6′ 212 lbs. Gardena HS (Cal.)

Possibilities

Bishop Sankey 5′ 11″ 190 lbs. Gonzaga Prep.

Harvey Langi 6′ 2″ 215 lbs. Bingham HS (Utah)

Sankey has long been a WSU commit but is seriously considering other schools now.  Not sure what he’ll do, but he seems like UW’s best bet if they’re going to take a true running back this year.  Langi is a power back who doesn’t seem likely to be a Dawg.

Overview

The Huskies thought they had their running back a long time ago when Brendon Bigelow became the first commit for this class.  Two knee surgeries later, Bigelow changed his commitment to California and UW finds itself without a true running back in the class.  It would be huge to get Sankey, whom Scout lists as the #11 RB in the country, and I wouldn’t be surprised if that happened.  Otherwise, I don’t know if this class will have a running back.  That might be okay given the talent currently on the squad, but some depth would be good, especially if Polk leaves this year for the NFL.  Sankey is the only big time talent being recruited currently (besides Langi, but that’s unlikely), but don’t be surprised if the Huskies come up with someone else if he decides to go elsewhere.

-Matthew