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Does the California bill impact Washington football recruiting?

By Roman Tomashoff

SEATTLE, WA - OCTOBER 20: Head coach Chris Petersen of the Washington Huskies looks on during the game against the Colorado Buffaloes at Husky Stadium on October 20, 2018 in Seattle, Washington. (Photo by Otto Greule Jr/Getty Images)
SEATTLE, WA - OCTOBER 20: Head coach Chris Petersen of the Washington Huskies looks on during the game against the Colorado Buffaloes at Husky Stadium on October 20, 2018 in Seattle, Washington. (Photo by Otto Greule Jr/Getty Images) /
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Is California’s new bill about NCAA players being able to profit off their names going to impact Washington football’s recruiting in California?

Washington football has been killing it on the recruiting trail in California, but with the recent passing of a bill by California senators stating that college athletes will be able to profit off of their likeness, will that turn the tide on recruiting trail and convince more California kids to stay home?

The Huskies are in the middle of a massive culture shift in the West, where we’re seeing a lot of elite high school players decide to leave for the ACC and SEC, and if not, a lot of them are ending up at Washington instead of at USC or UCLA from Southern California, and Stanford or Cal from Northern California (even though the circumstances there are slightly different because of offer numbers).

Let’s look at some of the elite players the Huskies were able to snag from the 2020 class, like Jalen McMillan and Myles Murao, who are both top 100 players. And some of the top targets from the 2021 class, Troy Franklin and Korey Foreman, who are both five-star players. Imagine what kind of deals they could be offered by a school like USC to stay in-state, and the way they could now be marketed as hometown heroes by selling their jerseys.

This bill makes it legal for the athletes to hire agents to negotiate deals for them, which could change the sales pitch that any out of state school can make, because the thought of being able to make money in school and seeing your hometown fans wearing a jersey with your name on it would definitely be very appealing to elite high school athletes.

Now, the bill wouldn’t go into effect until January 1st 2023, if signed by governor Gavin Newsome, so it would really affect most of the current recruits that the Huskies are looking at for the classes of 2021 and beyond. We won’t truly know how much leverage the bill holds until it’s signed into law, but it presents a huge opportunity for California schools to get a leg up on the recruiting front.

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