Washington football is so close, the shift is happening

Recruiting

Let’s look at all the top programs in college football right now. Alabama, LSU, Georgia, Clemson, Ohio State, Oklahoma, what do they all have in common? They pull in elite recruiting classes year after year, and the Huskies are getting to that point. The worst recruiting classes on this current team are all members of the senior class.

The philosophy of taking hard workers and underrecruited guys is awesome because they’re getting guys to the NFL at a consistent rate, but the success rate of hitting on those kinds of players is a lot lower than going after upper-tier four and five-star players.

Combining the development that the coaches have proven time and time again that gets players to the NFL with uber-talented players like Save’ll Smalls and Jalen McMillan, in a few years the first round of the NFL Draft could look like what it does now for Alabama and Ohio State.

The class of 2020 is an improvement on the class of 2019, which was the best recruiting class in the history of Washington football, and 2021 could be even better. But for now, we can focus on the class of 2020, headlined by four top 100 prospects in Smalls, McMillan, Myles Murao, and Roger Rosengarten.

With the way that Petersen is starting to use his young guys this year, maybe we’ll see even more of them make an impact right away. Smalls has all the tools and physical traits to start right away, McMillan is going to make a push for early playing time the same way Nacua has this year, as could running back Sam Adams II. There’s a lot to be excited about when it comes to Husky football, and the rest of this year should be used as a stepping stone towards greatness.