Football Recruiting: Elijah Qualls Signs LOI With Washington
Coach Sarkisian’s football program has received a letter of intent from defensive tackle Elijah Qualls of Casa Grande High School in Petaluma, CA. While Washington should certainly be excited to officially have the 6’1” 282-pound linemen in the fold, the signing has been widely expected since Qualls helped to orchestrate the eight-man group commitment that took place on June 29th, 2012 at The Ram in University Village.
Still, while Qualls wavered very little in his commitment to the Huskies, it wasn’t for a lack of options. The consensus four-star prospect was offered by nearly every school in the Pac-12, including USC and UCLA. This comes as no surprise, considering that both Scout and ESPN have him tagged as a top-15 defensive tackle in the Class of 2013, with Rivals listing him as the 23rd best at his position.
Those numbers would be great no matter the position group, but defensive tackles with college-ready physical tools are a hot commodity on the West Coast, making Qualls an even more valuable addition to a ’13 class that will be absolutely loaded on the defensive line if all verbal commits follow Qualls’ lead and sign with the Huskies.
With his size, I would expect Qualls to contribute inside as a freshman, and though it would be unfair to assume that his contributions will be massive until he has had a couple years to adjust to the college game, it would not come as any sort of shock to see him find great success early in his UW career.