Tracking Zach Banner: Is Washington Eliminated?
By Mark Knight
Zach Banner has been down to Washington, Oklahoma, and USC for a few weeks now but today a video was released by King5.com that had Banner, only listed 2 schools; Oklahoma and USC. There was no mention of the University of Washington in the entire video. There was mention of “home”, “Fort Lewis”, the state of “Washington”, etc. But nothing about the Huskies.
You can watch that video here.
However, shortly after this video went viral, forums blew up, twitter blew up, and Husky fans everywhere were disappointed with another missed recruit from the state of Washington, this tweet was sent out from Doug Pacey of the Tacoma News Tribune:
Just exchanged texts with Zach Banner. He says he's still considering 3 schools - UW, USC and Oklahoma.
— Doug Pacey (@DougPacey) January 7, 2012
He then followed that tweet up with a blog post about his brief (very brief) texting conversation with Banner.
I then exchanged tweets with many UW fans and Chris Egan of King 5 TV, and since not all of you have twitter or saw the whole conversation here it is laid out for you (after the jump).
Recruiting is a little crazy. The clip on King 5 is telling but at the same time- others are saying UW is still in it for Zach Banner.
— The Husky Haul (@HuskyHaul) January 7, 2012
Ultimately, it would be more telling if we could hear what the question was, it could have been "what other schools besides UW are left?"
— The Husky Haul (@HuskyHaul) January 7, 2012
@HuskyHaul do you really forget to name the school you'll be going to in an interview?
— jimmy (@Jimmyy_lee1) January 7, 2012
@Jimmy_Leeroy happens a lot but yes it's usually not a good sign. Why would he double-back (also happens all the time)?
— The Husky Haul (@HuskyHaul) January 7, 2012
@HuskyHaul probably doesn't want to deal with the backlash until he actually makes it official.
— jimmy (@Jimmyy_lee1) January 7, 2012
@Jimmy_Leeroy should have thought through that before he said his answer on video. :)
— The Husky Haul (@HuskyHaul) January 7, 2012
King 5 is my favorite News channel. RT @HU5KIE5 @HuskyHaul wow, you have zero faith in king5. I doubt they run a clip that out of context.
— The Husky Haul (@HuskyHaul) January 7, 2012
I am not meaning to smack talk anyone - Just reliable sources from multiple places are saying contradictory things. Which is curious...
— The Husky Haul (@HuskyHaul) January 7, 2012
@HuskyHaul according to producer at @KING5Sports (I'm off today) the question was, "Have you declared yet?" let's hope he just blanked ??
— Chris Egan King-5 TV (@ChrisEgan5) January 7, 2012
@ChrisEgan5 thanks. I have talked to many recruits that have forgot to mention schools but not when there are only 3. He probably slipped.
— The Husky Haul (@HuskyHaul) January 7, 2012
@HuskyHaul I know @DougPaceyTNT exchanges texts after his clip aired n he texted UW in mix, not a great sign though? But he's still a kid
— Chris Egan King-5 TV (@ChrisEgan5) January 7, 2012
@HuskyHaul if he forgot to add uw to the other two schools, I doubt he's coming (even though he did say after that we're still in it)
— St3vi3_T (@St3vi3_T) January 7, 2012
@HuskyHaul
— RJF 206 (@RJF971) January 7, 2012
Hey, like Don James used to say, we recruit & bring in kids that want to play for UW. These other kids, it's their loss!
There you have it. While it still may be up in the air, almost everyone aside from Pacey is concerned and consider it a done deal that he is not going to UW. However, February 1 is still a few weeks away, a lot could change before then.