UW Recruiting 1/13

I posted an overview of the Huskies current recruiting class a week ago.  There hasn’t been a ton of news since then, but there’s been enough to warrant an update.  I’d recommend that you read the previous post first, but hey, you can do whatever you like!

The first news that came out this week was also the best, as the Huskies received a commitment from cornerback Jermaine Kelly.  He’s a pretty elite guy, one of the best athletes on the west coast.  He’s 6’2″ and electric enough that he could easily be a difference-maker at receiver if they needed him there.  Greg Biggins from Scout.com, who is one of the better evaluators out there in my opinion, says he has potential to be the best cornerbackout of this class in the west in a year or two, and that’s against some talented guys.  He had originally committed to UCLA before de-committing.  The rumors are that he had an issue with one of their coaches, and while there’s nothing on the record, supposedly the coach was former UW coach Demetrice Martin, who left last year for UCLA and took quite a few UW recruits with him.  Ironic, if you ask me.  I’ll take Kelly over all of the guys we lost last year.  Hopefully he won’t have to play this year, but he probably could and has all-league potential down the road.

Moving on, the other big news this week were the weekend visits that just finished.  The Dawgs reportedly had nine players on campus.  Six of them are already previously committed, and they all seemed to love their visit, as is usually the case.  The other three was a group of southern boys.  MLB Reuben Foster, out of Alabama, is the headliner.  He’s the top-rated linebacker in the country and one of the top 5 players overall, by most accounts.  He’s a difference-maker on the level of Shaq Thompson, if not better.  Most think that the Huskies are a long-shot to sign Foster, just because of distance.  I would agree with that, but Foster consistently says that he’s interested in getting away from home, and there’s a tweet going around that the percentage chance that he’ll sign with the Huskies is high, or something like that.  It’s a long way to signing day still, and he’s making visits to his local SEC schools in the next few weeks, so don’t get your hopes up.  But get them up a little, because this would be a shocker.

The other two who visited were OT Maurice Swain and Joe Sanders, who could play on either line, both from Georgia.  Unsurprisingly, the two are friends with Foster, who lived in Georgia before moving to Alabama.  Both are solid prospects in their own right, and would fill a need on the offensive line, but I would consider them long shots to be Huskies unless all three decide to come to Seattle together.  Another friend of Foster’s, OL Joshua Outlaw, was also supposed to visit, but he didn’t end up making it.  It’s unclear whether he’ll reschedule for later this month.  He’s a Tennessee commit and also pretty unlikely to end up in Seattle.

There are more players coming in this weekend and the couple after that, although none are quite so packed as this one was, yet.  That can change in a hurry.  As I said last week, this class currently looks phenomenal, one of the best since UW added Reggie Williams and a bunch of other top prospects a long time ago.  Right now, they’re sitting on 21 commits, most of which seem pretty sure to be Huskies, if they can make it into school.  CB Kevin King reportedly took a visit to WSU this weekend, which might end up meaning nothing.  Sometimes though, the coaching staff will tell a player that if he takes other visits, they’re pulling his scholarship offer.  No idea if that did/will happen with King, but it’s something to watch.  He’s one of their lower-rated players, especially now that Kelly is on-board.

Right now, the Husky class is balanced and deep, except at offensive line.  I get the impression that the Husky coaches are looking for a couple of O-linemen and are otherwise focused on hauling in some big-time prospects that are still considering them.  They don’t have any holes they need to fill, so they’re just trying to get the biggest impact players they can.  I could be totally wrong, of course, but that seems to be the direction things are going.  The previously mentioned Foster is probably the biggest fish they’re trying to land, but there are a few others as well:

1. Myles Jack – The Bellevue linebacker has been committed to UCLA for a long time, but the Huskies have gone hard after him just as long.  Lots of people think he will eventually switch to UW, while some think he could even end up at Oregon.  Personally, I doubt he ends up a Husky, but I don’t really know anything.  He’s a phenomenal player and could possibly play right away.  I hope they get him, I just don’t have a great feeling about it.
2. Eddie Vanderdoes – Vanderdoes is one of the top couple defensive tackles in the country.  He was committed to USC before decommitting to consider five schools.  UW is one of them, but it doesn’t sound real promising.  Best bet is that he ends up at UCLA or Notre Dame, but anything can happen when Tosh Lupoi’s working on a kid.
3. Nico Falah – Another USC commit, Falah is an OT from California and would fill a huge need.  While still committed to USC, he’s strongly considering UW as well.  All things equal, I think he’s a Trojan.  Given their scholarship restrictions though, it’s possible USC pulls his scholarship or something, and then UW will be in good shape.  There have been concerns with his performance at camps and other things, but he has a ton of potential and the Huskies badly need tackles.
4. Patrick Enewally – Enewally isn’t as highly rated as the previous three, but he’s also supposedly more likely to be a Husky.  He’s a cover safety, a position where the Huskies could use a little depth.  Last I heard he was considered UW and Boise State, leaning toward the Huskies, but I don’t really know for sure.

There are plenty of other players out there, but these are the ones that UW is known to be working hard to get.  The last few years, they’ve had a surprise on signing day, so hopefully there’s someone out there that none of the recruiting services know anything about or weren’t aware the Huskies were recruiting.  That’s always fun.  I’ll be back with another update in a couple of weeks, or sooner if there’s news.  Go Dawgs!

-Matthew