Caple on UW Huskies: What to know about Dawgs’ recruiting class

Dec 5, 2024, 3:53 PM | Updated: 3:56 pm

UW Huskies football general Husky Stadium...

A general view at Husky Stadium before a UW Huskies game. (Steph Chambers/Getty Images)

(Steph Chambers/Getty Images)

UW Huskies Insider

SEATTLE — The UW Huskies’ 2025 recruiting class has me thinking about the group Jedd Fisch signed three years ago.

Fisch’s first full class as coach at Arizona, in 2022, ranked No. 22 nationally despite the Wildcats’ 1-11 record in 2021. The class wound up the foundation of Arizona’s rise under Fisch, and looks even better in hindsight than it did when those players signed (and that’s in spite of Arizona’s nosedive this season). Quarterback Noah Fifita, receiver Tetairoa McMillan, linebacker Jacob Manu, cornerback Tacario Davis and offensive linemen Jonah Savaiinaea and Wendell Moe became key players for the Wildcats. Tailback Jonah Coleman, cornerback Ephesians Prysock, edge rushers Isaiah Ward and Russell Davis II and receiver Kevin Green Jr. eventually followed Fisch and his staff to Washington.

The Huskies signed 29 players to financial-aid agreements on Wednesday: 17 on offense, 11 on defense and one mysterious Australian punter. They signed 10 players in the trenches — six on the o-line, two interior d-linemen and two edge rushers — and added a fifth receiver to the class, former Oklahoma commitment Marcus Harris, on Wednesday morning. That’s in addition to two quarterbacks, two tailbacks, two tight ends, two (or three) linebackers and four (or five) defensive backs.

Brock Huard reacts to UW Huskies’ high-ranking 2025 recruiting class

Maybe the addition of Harris, a four-star prospect from Santa Ana (Calif.) Mater Dei, lessens the sting of losing four-star tight end Vander Ploog to Oregon. Maybe flipping three-star offensive lineman John Mills from Texas helps make up for the loss of four-star offensive lineman Zac Stauscasky to the Ducks. Maybe it doesn’t. I’m not here to tell you how to feel.

Regardless, it’s a huge class, especially for a program like Washington that, as Fisch reiterated Wednesday, is committed to remaining at 85 scholarships even as the House settlement raises the limit to 105. And it’s a group ranked No. 22 nationally by the 247Sports Composite, just like Fisch’s first class at Arizona (though the coach was sure to note that ESPN ranked UW’s class 18th). Eight of UW’s 29 signees are four-star prospects, per the composite rankings.

While UW fans would likely prefer the class not fracture after two college seasons due to a coaching change, they surely wouldn’t mind if this collection of talent is some day remembered similarly to Fisch’s first, foundational class at Arizona, at least in the sense that it provided the firepower necessary for program ascension.

Even if it’s not any kind of barometer within UW’s football offices.

“The powder keg that was 2022 — that’s not something we sit around the meeting table and say we need to recreate,” said Matt Doherty, UW’s director of player personnel who came with Fisch from Arizona. “Every class stands on its own two legs. We’re hoping to have the same hit rate, year after year, that we did in that class. I don’t necessarily think it’s an outlier — I think it’s the standard so far, when it comes to our experience together. Here, we’re dealing with … a step up in competition, and the caliber of team and player, position by position, that we will be faced with in terms of competing.

“The approach here is just, ‘let’s get players that fit the specs, in each position room, that we’re looking for, and that we think is going to elevate us to the upper echelon of the conference,’ and less so, ‘hey, we need to meet some kind of … reinvention of the ‘22 class.’”

Here’s what else to know about UW’s 2025 recruiting class, and about what Fisch and Doherty said about it on Wednesday.

• You didn’t need Fisch or Doherty to tell you they value in-state recruiting; the mere fact UW signed five Washington prospects is evidence enough of their local investment. But Doherty still made a point to highlight just how badly the Huskies wanted four-star Spanaway (Wash.) Bethel linebacker Zaydrius Rainey-Sale, the state’s top-rated player.

“I don’t feel like I’m even taking liberty saying Zaydrius Rainey-Sale was priority No. 1, on the recruiting front, walking in the door,” Doherty said. “On the plane, on the way here, he was a topic of discussion. He stands alone in terms of the stature that he kind of carried throughout the process, and obviously, everybody involved should be excited about what he brings into the fold.”

As for the broader philosophy in Washington, Doherty said, “it mimics a lot of the same experience that we had at Arizona, as far as, let’s invest in the best players that we have certainly done a good job of evaluating, and assessed as of the caliber that we can win with here, and then let’s go all-in on those players.”

Doherty said the coaching staff “coveted” Auburn Riverside linebacker Jonathan Epperson Jr. while still at Arizona, such that Epperson was ready to commit to the Wildcats at one time.

“The philosophy will always be, let’s make sure they’re good enough,” he said, “but let’s certainly invest and spend double the time that we would anywhere else, on the evaluation process here. Because getting it right here means that much more to everybody that comes out and supports this program.”

• Though UW already had commitments from four receivers — four-star prospects Chris Lawson and Raiden Vines-Bright, and three-stars Dezmen Roebuck and Deji Ajose — Fisch said the Huskies wanted to add a fifth by signing day. As such, Fisch said, “we were pretty aggressive with a few guys at the end.” (You might read that as a reference to UW’s pursuit of Andrew Marsh, who stuck with his Michigan commitment, or Donovan Olugbode, who stuck with Missouri.)

Ultimately, the Huskies landed Harris, whom the 247Sports Composite considers to be the No. 245 overall prospect in the 2025 class. Fisch recalled offering Harris soon after arriving at UW, then rediscovering him, in a sense, during a visit to watch quarterback signee Dash Beierly play.

Fisch said he called Doherty and asked: “Am I missing something, or is there a wide receiver here that we have not been all over, for some reason?” Doherty reminded him that yes, UW had offered, but Harris had committed to Oklahoma. From there, Fisch said, “it was kind of a dead thing, because he was pretty much really firm at that time.” Harris decommitted from Oklahoma on Sunday. It helped that UW had Beierly, his Mater Dei teammate, already on board.

Harris has 30 catches this season for 477 yards and three touchdowns for unbeaten Mater Dei, which faces De La Salle on Dec. 14 in the CIF Open Division championship.

• Four-star La Verne (Calif.) Bonita athlete Dylan Robinson is among the most touted prospects in UW’s class. When he chose the Huskies over Notre Dame and UCLA, the two-way star indicated he’d be playing cornerback. He might still, but at 6-foot-3 and 195 pounds, Robinson could wind up on either side of the ball. And anywhere in the secondary.

“John Richardson and Kevin Cummings are still fighting over Dylan Robinson,” Doherty said, referencing UW’s cornerbacks and receivers coaches. “That is still up in the air. Dylan will come in as a defensive player, but that’s not for lack of trying on KC’s part.”

• Fisch and Doherty each spoke about Birmingham (Ala.) Parker defensive lineman Caleb Smith as an interior player, so that clears that up. It remains to be seen, however, where Wilmette (Ill.) Loyola Academy athlete Donovan Robinson will end up playing. When he committed, the vibe was linebacker, but safety isn’t out of the question.

“What led us to him was the versatility, and kind of that ambiguity,” Doherty said. “He will have a landing spot, obviously, once we determine where he’s best suited. But he is every bit of 6-3. He’s 215 pounds. You see him play both on the back end at safety, and he’ll come up and play in the box and in the front seven as a true stack linebacker. He returns punts, he plays wide receiver. So you’re getting a big, long body who’s used to contact and has pretty exceptional ball skills for a player who lines up in some of these alignments.

“I don’t want to put him in a box right now. (Safeties coach) Vinnie Sunseri claims him upstairs, and so does (linebackers coach) Robert Bala. We’ll let the two of them sort it out. He’s a very exciting experiment, I think.”

• Speaking of Smith, I thought this was interesting, from Doherty: “We had kind of made it a concerted effort to dip into the state of Alabama and look for body types, because that area of the country produces a disproportionate amount of long, athletic bodies who wind up being fairly successful contributors on a lot of defensive lines around America. That search led us to Caleb.”

Smith is listed at 6-foot-5 and 260 pounds. The thought is that he can grow into his frame and play on the interior.

“He’s just scratching the surface, in terms of what he’s capable of doing,” Doherty said. “I would say of anybody who I might predict — I don’t want to put undue pressure on the kid — but his ceiling is extremely high. What he did at the high-school level was impressive, but it’s not anything remotely close to what I think he can become, from a physical standpoint.”

• Fisch mentioned that UW plans to max out its revenue-share allotment under the House settlement. He put the estimated department cap at about $20.5 million — earlier, he’d mentioned the football program, specifically, “budgeting close to $15 million or more to take care of players” — so I was curious whether the 2025 signees have already seen numbers.

Fisch said that because the House settlement isn’t scheduled to take effect until July, any deals for January or March enrollees will be handled by Montlake Futures, external of the football program.

“The players all understand what the revenue-share number is going to be, and what their so-called income will be beginning July 1, 2025,” Fisch said. “And (those) will be 12-month contracts that they’ll be signing, that will be standardized through the entire Big Ten.”

• Fisch and Doherty offered a sampling of names, off the cuff, of players expected to enroll early, but a UW spokesperson provided a complete list afterward. Expected January enrollees are quarterbacks Dash Beierly and Treston “Kini” McMillan; running back Julian McMahan; receivers Marcus Harris, Chris Lawson and Raiden Vines-Bright; tight end Austin Simmons; offensive linemen Champ Taulealea, John Mills, Jake Flores and Jack Shaffer; defensive lineman Caleb Smith; linebacker Zaydrius Rainey-Sale; cornerback Ramonz Adams Jr.; and safety Rylon Dillard-Allen.

Expected March enrollees are defensive lineman Dominic Macon; linebacker Jonathan Epperson Jr.; cornerback D’Aryhian Clemons; and punter Dusty Zimmer. All told, that’s 19 of UW’s 29 signees who should be available for spring practices.

• The UW Huskies’ first signee actually became official on Tuesday night, because he hails from Adelaide, Australia. That would be Dusty Zimmer, a 6-foot-5, 230-pound punter with three seasons of eligibility remaining. Zimmer has experience in Australian rules football, but it doesn’t appear as if he has formally participated in American football.

In Australia, Doherty said, “there are well-established resources to tap into and kind of flesh out names,” though he didn’t name these mystery brokers. “At this point, they’ve put so many guys into this realm of college football that their recommendation holds a lot of weight. There’s obviously an evaluation process on our end that we’re getting the type of traits that we’re looking to bring into the special teams unit and kicking game. But Australia has kind of earned itself a reputation at this point for producing pretty high-caliber kickers and punters.”

Because Zimmer hasn’t actually punted in an American football game, Doherty said, “you’re looking at workout tape. Again, the people that run this sort of thing, they know exactly what it is we’re looking for and trying to key on, so they’ll showcase those types of skills in any different context or scenario. It’s still a projection, clearly, but we’re at least able to see the types of movements and kicks that we would ask of him in any given situation.”

This article was originally published at OnMontlake.com, the home for Christian Caple’s full UW Huskies football coverage. Subscribe to On Montlake for full access to in-depth UW Huskies coverage.