Washington Huskies Football: Class of 2015 Defensive Line Recruiting Needs

The class of 2015 recruiting wise for Washington football is filling in nicely on the offensive side of the football. Chris Petersen and his staff have obtained a nice mix of verbal commitments from all of the various skill positions and on the offensive line.

Now at this point there are zero verbal commitments which means is it time for Washington fans to panic absolutely not. So, here is a look at starting with the defensive line and what the staff needs to try and address for that position group

Defensive End: This is arguably the biggest need as you are going to lose Ha’ouli Kikaha to graduation. The need for depth and potential immediate impact comes to the forefront for the Huskies as you can never have enough quality at this position. Washington will return underclassmen such as Joe Mathis and Jarett Finau most likely in 2015 to help fill that void. At the other defensive end spot there is a little bit better depth with Cory Littleton and Marcus Farria.

The departure of Josh Shirley as announced earlier hurts. But, it should open up opportunities for 2015 recruiting class to make an immediate impact. Benning Potoae out of Lakes High School in Lakewood, Washington is one of several targets to watch for the 2015 class.

Defensive Tackle/Nose Tackle: With Danny Shelton graduating and moving on to the NFL it is going to be a very interesting challenge to see who defensive coordinator Pete Kiwatkowski finds to fill the void of Shelton. Elijah Qualls with a big season in 2014 would be a top candidate to take over for Shelton.

This area is a definite need to address in the 2015 recruiting class. One big time recruiting target to watch is Joseph Wicker who is 6’4′ 265 pounds out of Long Beach, California as he appears to have some of tha run stuffing size that would fit great in the middle of the defensive line.

In short the 2015 season will have some good solid talent returning but it is definitely a year where it would be a huge plus to get some quality defensive linemen to rebuild the depth for ensuing seasons.