Washington: 2021 Recruiting Trail

August 17, 2020 CFB Saturdays Staff

Last Updated: August 17, 2020

Recruiting is where a majority of a college football roster is built. Obviously a team wants to get the best players they can each year, but no two years are the same on the recruiting trail. Based on what a team is able to do one year the needs and expectations for the next year change. In this feature we will track what the Washington Huskies have done and what they still need to achieve on the trail in the 2021 cycle.

2020 Recruiting Recap

The Huskies signed a strong recruiting class in 2020 lead by top in-state DE/OLB Sav’ell Smalls. The class featured a lot of talent on the offensive side of the ball. Of the ten four star prospects in the 247Sports Composite the Huskies signed eight of them were offensive players. The eight four stars included a quarterback, two receivers, a tight end, three offensive linemen and an athlete who could play running back or in the slot. The talent on offense was abundant and well spread out across the offensive positions.

Meanwhile on defense, Smalls gives the Huskies an elite pass rusher and they also added four star safety recruit Jacobe Covington from Arizona, but there was not a lot of high level defensive talent in the 2020 class. Washington did not sign a defensive tackle or strong side defensive end at all in the 2020 recruiting class. In fact, Smalls was the only true pass rusher the Huskies signed last cycle. The Huskies had a strong defensive class in 2019 so it may not have been a priority in 2020 but they will need to do better on the defensive side of the ball in 2021 to restock the talent.

There were seven four star or higher prospects in the state of Washington in the 2020 cycle, three of them signed with the Huskies. The Huskies did land #1 in state prospect Sav’ell Smalls but watched the second and third ranked prospects sign with Ohio State and Stanford. Of the seven out of state four star prospects the Huskies signed in the last cycle four were from California and one each from Nevada, Arizona and Colorado. The Huskies did a decent job recruiting in state and did well in the state of California, two trends they would like to at least continue and possibly even improve on going forward.

Washington 2021 Recruiting Landscape

Head Coach Chris Petersen retired from coaching after six season with the Huskies in which he helped elevate the standing of the program. Jimmy Lake was promoted from defensive coordinator and defensive backs coach to the top job. Lake was known as a solid recruiter as an assistant coach but it remains to be seen how he responds to being the head man in Seattle. Lake made a few changes to the coaching staff, mainly the hiring of a new offensive coordinator, but returned the majority of the previous staff. It will be interesting to see if Lake can continue the success Petersen had on the recruiting trail going forward.

This is an excellent year in state with three blue chip recruits in the state. Overall the 2021 class in Washington is slightly deeper than 2020 in addition to the elite talent at the top. The Huskies will have competition recruiting on the west coast from Oregon, USC and Arizona State. The Ducks and Mario Cristobal put together a strong 2020 recruiting class and have good momentum going. The Trojans are always a threat but will be desperate to bounce back after signing a small and underwhelming class in 2020. Arizona State is a new threat, they may not do a lot of their damage in Washington but the rising program will challenge for top prospects in talent rich California.

Goals For Washington 2021Recruiting

1. Land the top prospects in state. It doesn’t happen every year that three of the best prospects in the country play their high school ball in Washington. Jimmy Lake and company need to keep these top prospects and take advantage of this rare opportunity. The trio would give the Huskies an excellent core to build their 2021 recruiting class around.

Status: Sam Huard has committed to the Huskies. Emeka Egbuka has narrowed his list down to four teams, Washington is battling Clemson, Ohio State and Oklahoma for his commitment. J.T. Tuimoloau has not announced a list of finalists and does not appear to be close to a decision.

2. Continue to recruit top talent from California. The entire Pac-12 conference makes it a priority to recruit the Golden State. California is the most talent rich state in the region and to recruit at a high level Washington needs to get their share of the top prospects in the state. They did well in California in 2020, a repeat of this trend would be excellent for the 2021 class.

Status: So far the Huskies have not landed any of the top 25 recruits in California after landing four such recruits last cycle. Washington will need to do better here to continue the recruiting success they have had in recent years.

3. Recruit quality defensive line prospects to add to the program. The Huskies did add Smalls last year but he will need some help up front. The 2019 recruiting class was strong at defensive tackle, but it is important for Washington to restock the defensive line this cycle. Despite the move to fast paced high flying offenses, football games are still won up front and defensive line play is more important than ever.

Status: Washington has added four defensive line prospects this cycle. None of the four is currently ranked a four star recruit. They have addressed the need but would benefit from adding a top tier recruit up front like Tuimoloau.

4. Recruit high end players at the second level of the defense. Washington added Jacobe Covington in 2019 but he was the lone secondary player or inside linebacker that was ranked a four star prospect. They signed two corners and a safety and two inside linebackers, but it would be beneficial to get a couple of higher rated players in the 2021 cycle.

Status: Will Latu is a quality athlete prospect who is likely to play linebacker for the Huskies. If he grows into a defensive end he would help address #3 on this list. There is still a need to add more top prospects at the second level.

This post will be updated throughout the cycle.

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