Woof: Dawgs Add Commitment from AZ Pass Rusher

The commitments from Washington’s big recruiting weekend continue to pile up as the Huskies just received a pledge from Arizona edge rusher Noah Carter.

The 6’3, 225 lb defensive end out of Centennial HS (Peoria, AZ) arrived on Thursday for his official visit in Seattle and committed to Washington within a few days. He is rated by the 247 Sports Composite as a 3-star prospect but is very much on the edge of 4-star status (and is over that line at On3 Sports). Anyone with a composite rating of 0.89 earns a 4th star and Carter is at 0.8811 as the 582nd rated prospect in the country and 37th best edge rusher.

Washington was a little late to the party with Carter only officially offering him on June 8th but made up plenty of ground in the last month. Carter took his only other official visit to Louisville but also had offers from Texas as well as home-state schools Arizona and Arizona State among others.

Carter is a plus athlete that has been utilized on both sides of the ball for Centennial. As a wide receiver he is able to use his height to create mismatches and break tackles in the red zone. On offense he caught 27 balls for 348 yards and 4 TDs as a junior.

Washington however is recruiting him as an edge player on defense where he generally played as a stand-up outside linebacker for Centennial and had 14 sacks last fall. He shows great burst off the line and a knack for cutting through the line unblocked. His wide receiver role is also evident in his defensive highlights which include an interception while falling back into coverage on a quick throw and returning a fumble 92 yards for a touchdown.

The Huskies seem to have a type with their Arizona pass rushers. Lance Holtzclaw in the class of 2022 was about 15-20 pounds lighter than Carter but about the same height and similarly a player that relied more on speed than pure power in high school. And Bralen Trice has put on plenty of muscle since arriving at Washington but is within a half-inch of height and 5 pounds of Carter at this point in their development.

Once Carter gets on campus he’ll have a depth chart that is currently a bit uncertain. Maurice Heims and Zach Durfee will both be juniors but we haven’t gotten to really see what either can do in a Husky uniform yet. The aforementioned Holtzclaw should be a sophomore while it seems likely that incoming freshman Jacob Lane will redshirt this upcoming season. I would expect Washington will add a veteran edge in the transfer portal to help fill the losses of ZTF and Bralen Trice in the short term but there is opportunity to see plenty of playing time if someone breaks out in year 1 or 2.

Carter is the 3rd defensive commit of the day and 7th overall verbal pledge at the moment in the Class of 2024.

Here are Carter’s highlights: