FanPost

A Review of Where UW Stands With 2023 Recruiting

I know that there have been some Husky fans that have a very negative view of UW recruiting at the moment, especially given the current situation with NIL. Of course, having a new coaching staff is contributing to this negative view of recruiting; many recruits will likely want to see how the new staff does before taking the chance. Frankly, I was thinking the same. But I've been reading up on some things that have been written as well as seeing some of the official visits that have been set up. And now I'm a little more optimistic.

Given the number of players that will be leaving after the 2022 season or may likely leave, and factoring in that some players may still end up transferring between now and then end of the calendar year, I'm estimating that UW's 2023 recruiting class will likely be between 17 and 20. (This is just a guess at the moment, and I'm not even sure the coaching staff has a better guess.)

There are currently 160 offers out to fill those spots. Some of the recruits with a UW offer have already committed to other schools. Others have put out a list of their top schools; some have included UW and some have not. Below I'm going to go through position-by-position and estimate how many commits UW may take and who are some likely candidates as well as others that UW has offered that have not narrowed anything down that may still be possibilities.

QB

UW will likely take just 1 high school QB in the 2023 class.

  • With Gabarri Johnson's commitment to Missouri, 3 of the 7 QB's that UW has offered have committed elsewhere. A fourth, Jaden Rashada, no longer seems interested in UW. That leaves UW with 3 options.
  • One is 4-star Avery Johnson who has said that UW is one of the 5 schools that he is considering for an official visit.
  • The most recent QB offer is to 3-star Aidan Chiles. Oregon and Oregon State are his other Power-5 offers now, so it would seem that UW would have a decent shot at him.
  • It was probably a bit of a surprise to most Husky fans when they learned that UW had offered a QB from South Dakota. Lincoln Kienholz is a 3-star with only one other Power-5 offer now: Pittsburgh.

I feel confident that DeBoer will take a high school QB in the 2023 class. It appears that there are still some options that UW has a good shot at. We should know more in the next couple of months since many QB's like to commit before their senior season.

RB

UW has one RB committed for the 2023 class (Tybo Rogers), but seems likely to take a second commitment.

  • Brandon Johnson, Sergio Snider, and Johnny Thompson have all said that they want to take an official visit to UW or at least they've mentioned that UW is in their list of top schools.
  • 4-star Dylan Edwards recently included UW in his Top 10.

Given the UW is still pursuing RB recruits for the 2023 class, it seems clear that they are not sticking with just Tybo Rogers. (And since Rogers just set up an official visit to UW, he seems to be solidly committed-or at least as solid as can be expected.) Since there are 4 options, I'd say that there is a good chance that UW adds one of those 4.

WR

UW also has one WR commit (Keith Reynolds). It seems likely that UW will add at least one more, and possibly 2 more to this class.

  • Rashid Williams visited UW this past weekend. He also has official visits set up for Oregon State and Cal; and he is also interested in Stanford. Williams is definitely interested in UW, but it could be a while before we know whether he commits to UW or not.
  • Nyziah Hunter and Taeshaun Lyons are a couple of WR recruits that have said that they are interested in taking a visit to UW.
  • There are probably 8-10 other WR recruits with a UW offer that have not narrowed their list (or at least not made it public). I won't list all of them here.
  • Three recruits have committed elsewhere including Zachariah Branch (USC), Jurrion Dickey (Oregon), and Ashton Cozart (Oklahoma). From what I've read, three others no longer have UW on their list (Jalen Brown, Carnell Tate, and Rico Flores).

Getting a second WR in the 2023 class seems very likely. Even getting a 3rd is likely. But many of the WR recruits with a UW offer aren't talking a lot or setting up visits yet, so it could be a while before we have a better understanding of who (and how many) UW will be getting.

TE

I'm expecting UW to take one TE in the 2023 class.

  • Seven of the 11 TE recruits with a UW offer. Unfortunately, 7 of them are currently committed elsewhere or have eliminated UW.
  • Three TE prospects have official visits scheduled: Kade Eldridge (I have him as a TE even though he's listed as ATH on 247Sports), Spencer Shannon, and Collins Achaempong.
  • Jackson Bowers has UW in his Top 7.

It is very encouraging that 3 TE recruits have either visited or are planning to visit. And to have a 4th have UW in his top list is also encouraging. I don't know which one it will be, but there seems to be a good chance that UW will get a commitment from one of them.

OT

I have heard that UW will likely take 2 OT recruits in the 2023.

  • The bad news is that 6 of the 14 with offers have committed elsewhere or eliminated UW.
  • The good news is that 3 recruits have scheduled official visits: Elishah Jackett, Elijah Paige, and Zachary Henning.
  • Four others with a UW offer haven't narrowed their list yet that I've seen: Luke Baklenko, Roger Alderman, Soane Faasolio, and Kahlee Tafai.

Similar to the TE position, it is encouraging that 3 of the OT prospects have set up official visits. I'd be surprised if UW didn't get a commitment from at least one of them. I'm less confident about getting a 2nd commitment at this point, but with the number of offers out, it would seem that getting a second is something that they are trying for. And more offers may be coming.

IOL

UW could take either one or two interior offensive linemen. UW has offers to 6 recruits including 2 in-state recruits.

  • Two of the 6 have essentially eliminated UW: Markee Anderson and Alani Noa
  • Micah Banuelos has already scheduled an official visit.
  • Landen Hatchett has UW in his top 5.
  • The others haven't narrowed their list yet.

Getting both in-state prospects (Banuelos and Hatchett) would be ideal. It seems a good bet that UW will at least one, but getting both may be difficult. And if they don't get both of them, I'm not sure if they will get a second.

DL

Given the number of offers that UW has for DL (21), it would seem that UW will likely take 2 in the 2023 class.

  • Four have essentially eliminated UW.
  • Four have committed elsewhere, although Anthony James is committed to Texas A&M but will be taking an official visit to UW next month anyway.
  • Two others have scheduled official visits to UW: Elinneus Davis and Amos Talalele.
  • Enow Etta has UW in his top 12.
  • The rest have yet to narrow their list that I know about.

Some of the players that 247Sports lists as EDGE may be looked at by UW as more of a DT and vice versa, so take some of this list with a grain of salt.

This may be a situation where UW gets a commitment this summer and then we have to wait around until December to know if UW will get a 2nd (and who that is).

EDGE

Similar to the DL position, it would seem that UW is looking at taking 2 EDGE players in the 2023 class; there are at least 19 with offers.

  • Two have already committed elsewhere.
  • Five have essentially eliminated UW; six if you include Jayden Wayne who seems interested in leaving the state.
  • Three have indicated that they are interested in taking an official visit to UW: Blake Purchase, Jaedon Moore, and Frederick Williams.
  • UW made the top 10 for Chandavian Bradley and, according to him, is likely one of the schools that he will officially visit.
  • Most of the rest have not narrowed their interests yet.

Again, we may not know who or how many EDGE players UW will get in this class until December. But getting 2 in the class seems possible at this point.

LB

I am guessing that UW could take either 2 or 3 LB's in the 2023 class. UW has one commit already, Deven Bryant.

  • Nigel Glover is committed to Northwestern.
  • CJ Allen has essentially eliminated UW.
  • Jordan Whitney and Victory Johnson are scheduled to take an official visits to UW.
  • UW is a top school for Liona Lefau (top 8). Jerry Mixon seems interested in setting up an official visit. Leviticus Su'a says that UW is one of three schools he talks to the most and has been up to UW a couple of times already on unofficial visits. Michael Montgomery has also visited UW unofficially.
  • 247Sports lists Jerry Mixon as being "Warm" to UW, but he hasn't scheduled an official visit yet.
  • The others haven't narrowed their lists that I've seen.

Similar to the WR position, it seems very likely UW will get a second LB in the 2023 class, and getting a 3rd seems possible.

Safety

Given the number offers, I would expect UW to take just 1 safety in the 2023 class.

  • Three recruits have committed elsewhere (Jamel Johnson, RJ Jones, and Christian Pierce).
  • A couple of others have essentially eliminated UW, including Braxton Myers and Marvin Burks.
  • Sailasa Vadrawale is listed as a CB but appears to be being recruited by UW as a safety. He visited this past weekend, although it was an unofficial visit.
  • Kodi Decambra officially visited UW last weekend although several Crystal Balls have him committing to Oregon (although he hasn't set up an official visit there so far).
  • Vincent Holmes has said that he will probably visit UW this summer.
  • The others haven't narrowed their list that I've seen.

I think that UW will take a safety prospect in the 2023 class, but I'm not extremely confident that any of the ones will a current offer will commit.

CB

I am expecting UW to take 2, or possibly 3, CB's in the 2023 class.

  • Cole Martin, Jayvon Thomas, and Aaron Williams have committed elsewhere.
  • Daylen Austin has essentially eliminated UW.
  • Caleb Presley appears headed out of state for now, but there is a (small) chance UW could convince him to stay since UW made his top 12.
  • Jeremiah Hughes and Jyaire Hill took official visits to UW last weekend.
  • Maliki Crawford has set up an official visit to UW.
  • Emmanuael Karney wants to visit UW this summer.
  • UW made Jermaine Mathews' top 9.
  • Jasiah Wagoner is listed on 247Sports as being "Warm" to UW but has yet to put out a top list or schedule official visits.
  • Most of the rest have not narrowed their lists that I've seen.

Getting a commitment from one of the current CB's that have been offered seems very likely. Getting a 2nd seems very possible as well. Getting a 3rd is questionable at this point.

Specialists

No offers have gone out to specialists in the 2023 class that I'm aware of, but I wouldn't be surprised if UW didn't offer some in the next 6 months because both the likely punter and kicker will be out of eligibility after this year.

Summary

If you add it up, I have UW taking between 17 and 22 (24 if you include 2 specialists). As I said above, I'm expecting between 17 and 20 unless something happens and there are more scholarships available. For most of the positions, UW appears to be in good shape to fill their spots just with the recruits that have currently been offered. But, I'd still expect to see more offers go out over the next month or two-especially if they don't get commitments at some of the positions (QB, OT, Safety) in that time. And even if they do get commits, there might still be some offers in case they decide they need more or they aren't confident that they'll keep the commitments.

Recruiting is changing constantly. UW continues to send out new offers. Recruits with offers commit to other schools and others will schedule official visits to UW. And the grading/rankings/stars can change for some of the recruits. Hopefully, UW will get more commits over the next couple of months. Heck, a lot could have changed between the time I wrote this and the time you read it! But many recruits may take their time to decide (especially with DeBoer being relatively unknown), so we may not get a very good picture of the 2023 class until sometime in December.

I know that some Husky fans are very focused on the stars/ratings for UW's commitments. I tried using the 247Sports "Class Calculator" along with the information above to estimate where UW could land in the recruiting rankings if they get some of the recruits above. Unfortunately, the "Class Calculator" is based on the 247Sports Composite, and a good number of the recruits that UW could get do not have that Composite rating yet. But if I make some assumptions and base things off of the 247Sports grades (which almost all have), I would guess that UW will end up in about the middle of the Pac12 in recruiting rankings; it could be as high as #5 if they end up with more than a few of the higher-rated recruits, or as low as #8 if they get relatively few of those (and other teams get more). Not good enough, I know, but still an improvement from the 2022 class.