It’s time for the Washington Huskies to have a major culture change, and the acquisition of Isaiah Stewart is a big step to showing the nation that Washington has arrived.
Basketball has started
The Washington Huskies landed an incredible five-star prospect in Isaiah Stewart, and he’s the type of player that can change the culture of the entire program. Now the Huskies can go all in on local five-star power forward Jaden McDaniels from Federal Way, and the Dawgs can form a legitimate national title contender in 2020 with the extra addition of five star Kentucky transfer, guard Quade Green.
As it stands right now, the Huskies haven’t made it to the dance since 2011, but a Sweet 16 run from this year’s team might change things. And players like Green and Stewart can not only get the Huskies invited to the big tournaments, but they’re also the type of players that can take the Huskies to the Final Four.
This display of recruiting prowess from Mike Hopkins and his staff will do wonders for the Husky basketball program. With a lot of highly touted recruits coming from the west coast over the next few seasons, it might put them in a better position to land a player like MarJon Beauchamp from local power Garfield High. All it takes is one guy to start a movement, and it looks like Stewart could be that guy, as he’s already going all out to try and get McDaniels to join him at UW.
Football is oh so close
Football and basketball are such different games, whereas one player can change an entire season for a basketball team, it’s much more rare for someone to do that in football. Of course, it can happen, and Jacob Eason might be the perfect player to do that. While the Huskies would’ve loved a commitment from him out of high school, the fact that he transferred to UW is huge. He’s exactly the type of player that can change the culture of the program, and he should do just that during his time on Montlake.
The next two years, 2020 and 2021, are the most important for the football program, and it starts with Eason. If he can run the Husky offense the way his staff believes he can, he’ll show the nation that UW has officially arrived. He could very easily lead this team to the College Football Playoff in 2019, and show top local recruits like Sav’ell Smalls and JT Tuimoloau that the Huskies are going to give them the same type of national exposure as an Alabama or Clemson, and they can do it all at home, in front of their family and friends while getting a world-class education.
The football team has so much potential under Chris Petersen, they’ve gotten to three straight NY6 bowls, including the College Football Playoff, while being led by a bunch of three and four stars. Now just imagine throwing players Smalls and Kelee Ringo on those teams, that team can win a national championship.