Washington Football National Signing Day Thread

Husky fans aren’t accustomed to doing much of anything on the official National Signing Day. Since the advent of the early signing period Washington has tried to secure all but maybe 1 recruit in each class at that time. Instead the Huskies have the chance to add on several commitments today.

First though let’s catch everyone up on the state of UW recruiting if you don’t normally follow it that closely. Clearly the Jimmy Lake era tanked Husky fans’ dreams of a truly spectacular class and Kalen DeBoer has done his best over the last 6 weeks to pick up the pieces. The Dawgs signed 5 players in December and 4 of them stuck with that commitment. WR Germie Bernard who had been the highest rated member of the class chose not to stay once position coach Junior Adams moved to Oregon and instead enrolled at Michigan State.

Shortly after signing day though the Huskies gained a commitment from linebacker/safety Demario King who as a JUCO transfer enrolled for the start of Winter quarter. Things began to heat up again in the last 2 weeks after Washington began hosting recruits on official visits once again. 4 players verbally committed to the Huskies during that time and all are expected to sign their letters of intent today. Michigan 3-star DL twins Armon and Jayvon Parker were the first to commit and are expected to sign at about noon PT. Houston DB Jaivion Green also committed on Monday after officially visiting this past weekend.

All 3 of those recent commitments were from players that didn’t have a 247 composite grade at the time of the commitment and definitely flew under the radar of the recruiting services. The Parker brothers have since received 0.8259 and 0.8213 grades and we can expect that over the next week or two they will end up putting up a similar grade for Green after they watch more film.

Then yesterday, Washington managed to flip Sumner 4-star safety Tristan Dunn who had been an Arizona State commit for a long time. Washington’s old staff held off on offering the rangy 6’3 prospect in part due to concerns about his performance in the classroom. The new staff brought Dunn in on an official visit a few weeks ago and clearly feel comfortable enough to give him a scholarship offer.

There are still another 2 potential additions that could happen today.

Graham-Kapowsin 3-star offensive lineman Vega Ioane was a verbal commitment throughout the season but opened things back up after the coaching change. He is going to announce his decision at 8:45a this morning between Washington, Penn State (he took an official visit there this past weekend), and Minnesota. Steve Wiltfong at 247 Sports put in a crystal ball last night for Ioane to Penn State which is not an encouraging sign. The good news is we’ll know early.

The other option is JUCO defensive back Roman Rashada who took an official visit to Washington this past weekend. BYU had been the other major player for his services but he chose to visit UW over the Cougars which seems a fortuitous sign. He has had some interest from a few SEC schools but unless they extend an offer at the last minute it would seem things are tilting in UW’s favor. The staff clearly think Rashada is a quality prospect but it also doesn’t hurt that Roman’s younger brother Jaden is the highest rated QB on the West coast for the class of 2023.

This will be your spot for updates throughout the day and we’ll keep you informed with what is happening as soon as it happens. New commitments will have a separate post but once the signatures are in for the previously committed players those will be updated right here.

*************************************

6:45a- THE TWINS ARE IN AND SO IS GREEN

Defensive tackles Armon and Javyon Parker are having a signing ceremony later today but they got their letters of intent in first thing this morning which by virtue of being in Michigan meant they were in while most of us in Seattle were still asleep.

Houston defensive back Jaivion Green also signed his letter of intent as soon as he was able to and had it in just after 5a local time. As Green mentioned during interviews he is listed as a cornerback to start.

**********************

8:40a- DUNN IS DONE

Washington has now announced Dunn’s signing and he is officially a Husky! Dunn committed to the Dawgs yesterday afternoon, flipping from Arizona State after Washington offered recently. The previous coaching staff didn’t offer the 6’3 4-star prospect but over the last few weeks DeBoer’s staff brought Dunn in on an official visit and extended the offer. It was only a matter of time after that especially since Dunn’s position coach at ASU recently resigned amid the Sun Devils’ recruiting scandal. Welcome to Washington, Tristan!

***************

9:00a- GOING, GOING, GONE

Graham-Kapowsin OL Vega Ioane announced this morning that he has committed to Penn State. Ioane originally committed to Washington this past summer but de-committed following the coaching change. It looked like the Huskies were in great position to reel the talented guard back into the fold but he took a last minute official visit to PSU and they were able to close him.

The class of 2022 was viewed as perhaps the greatest for offensive lineman in Washington State history. There were 5 premium OL recruits: Josh Conerly, Malik Agbo, David Iuli, Vega Ioane, and Mark Nabou. Conerly is still uncommitted and won’t be making his decision for at least another 6 weeks as he finishes basketball season before taking more official visits. However, things don’t appear to be trending in Washington’s directions. Ioane and Nabou both were committed to UW for part of the cycle but ultimately ended up at Penn State and Texas A&M respectively. Malik Agbo committed to Texas during the early signing period. And Iuli was a former Oregon commit before their coaching change but is expected to again commit to the Ducks today.

Ultimately OL coach Scott Huff is the only member of the previous staff who remains under the new regime. This despite the fact that the offensive line’s collapse was one of the biggest reasons that Washington fell to 4-8 this past year. Part of the logic was that retaining Huff would help with recruiting and he would be able to bring back Ioane and give the Huskies a great shot at Conerly. Things are more complicated than this but it brings to mind the Office Space “What would you say you do here?” quote.

Washington is loaded with young talent on the offensive line who haven’t gotten a chance to play yet. There’s a chance the Huskies get back Jaxson Kirkland for another year if he wins his petition with the NCAA after withdrawing from the NFL Draft this week. In the short-term there’s a chance that running an actual competent offense with the previous talent on hand that the Huskies have a massively upgraded line this year. But there’s no question that given UW seems set to strike out on what under Chris Petersen would’ve been almost certainly a home run local OL class that Huff is on thin ice. If the OL doesn’t see a boost this year then it seems natural that DeBoer may decide to move on and get his own guy in that role.

*********************************

9:50a- TRANSFERS GALORE

With the high school announcements seemingly done for the day, Washington announced all of the various commitments that have occurred over the last several weeks from the transfer portal. That list is: Pittsburgh LB Cam Bright, New Mexico RB Aaron Dumas, Arizona State WR Lonyatta “Junior” Alexander, and Idaho State P Kevin Ryan.

The last name on that list may come as a surprise for those that don’t pay strict attention on twitter. Ryan took a visit to UW a few weeks ago and listed himself as committed on Instagram recently but there was never a Woof. That maybe suggested that Ryan won’t be on scholarship but they announced him today. We’ll likely need to have an interview with Ryan asking him about his status before we know for sure. The Huskies have Triston Brown on the roster as the heir apparent to Race Porter but additional depth in case he isn’t ready yet isn’t a bad thing. Ryan punted 58 times this year for Idaho State with an average of 45.7 yards and a net of 41.0.

***********************************

The Huskies also listed the official heights/weights for all of the new additions from high school. You’ll notice a lot of height.

NEW SIGNEES

DL Armon Parker: 6-3, 284 lbs

DL Jayvon Parker: 6-3, 296 lbs

CB Jaivion Green: 6-2, 196 lbs

S Tristan Dunn: 6-4, 188 lbs

PREVIOUS SIGNEES

OL Parker Brailsford: 6-2, 255 lbs

TE Ryan Otton: 6-6, 224 lbs

WR Denzel Boston: 6-3, 196 lbs

EDGE Lance Holtzclaw: 6-3, 201 lbs

***********************************