Eddie Vanderdoes Opens Up Recruiting, Considering Washington

It was announced only about an hour ago that highly-touted defensive tackle Eddie Vanderdoes of Placer High School in Auburn, California, a USC commit since July, has decided to open up his commitment by rescinding his verbal commitment to the Trojans. This Reign of Troy piece, from the USC point of view, reports that the USC coaching staff was informed of the change several weeks ago, and to those keeping an eye on his recruiting, it certainly isn’t a shock, as Vanderdoes has been heavily pursued by multiple schools and has taken several official visits in the last few months.

While he is still heavily considering USC, it is believed that Vanderdoes is now considering four schools in fairly equal regard. UCLA, Notre Dame, Washington, and of course, USC. For any of those four schools, a commitment would be a major boost to their Class of 2013 haul. Vanderdoes is rated a four-star prospect by ESPN and Rivals, while Scout gives him five. The first two services also have him as the 4th best defensive tackle prospect in the entire class, while Scout has him 2nd. With quality interior linemen so hard to come by out west, it’s tough to overstate how much those various schools want him.

The fact that Washington is involved at all says a lot about the recruiting prowess of defensive line coach Tosh Lupoi, who is at the forefront of Husky efforts. At this point, I won’t try to pick a favorite. USC still has a good chance, but kids don’t decommit for no reason. Outside of USC, there is a good argument to be made for any of the three, and I’m sure it will be close until National Signing Day. We will keep you updated on anything new regarding this recruiting battle.