Not much state help for the Huskies in recruiting

Apparently it takes more than eight weeks to build a wall around the state of Washington.

When Steve Sarkisian was introduced as the University of Washington’s football coach Dec. 8, he announced his intention to return to the traditional two-pronged philosophy of Huskies’ recruiting success: do as well as possible in California, but own your home state.

“This is too good of an institution, too good of a program, for a kid to want to leave,” Sarkisian said at the time. “There’s no question, we’re going to put a wall up around the state of Washington, around Seattle and the surrounding areas, and these kids are not going to leave any more.”

However, when letters of intent start rolling in from Sarkisian’s first recruiting class today, only two home-grown prospects are expected to sign on: cornerback Desmond Trufant of Tacoma’s Wilson High School and linebacker Andru Pulu of Federal Way High.

At first glance, it appears to be a meager haul from what wasn’t considered a very strong local crop to begin with.

However, at least a couple of recruiting analysts see the situation differently.

Rick Kimbrel, Pacific-10 Conference recruiting analyst for Rivals.com: “It was an OK year in Washington, not great. But they did get one of the best in Trufant, the defensive back from Tacoma. The guy is definitely one of the best players in the state. If you’re going to get players in a bad year, you better get the ones from on top.”

Chris Fetters, Northwest analyst for Scout.com: “It’s still all about developing them once you get them. This might turn out to be a very undervalued class. I don’t want to say that this class is bad. You simply just won’t know that for two or three years.”

UW fans must hope similar undervaluing is going on all through this recruiting class, because current star rankings add up to what may be the lowest-rated class in school history – lower even than Tyrone Willingham’s notoriously weak first class.

Willingham’s 2005 freshman class was rated 66th nationally by Rivals, which ranks Sarkisian’s expected first class at 84th. At Scout, Willingham’s first class was ranked 55th, while Sarkisian’s was rated 68th as of Tuesday.

However, that first Willingham class is a useful example of how far off the mark star rankings can be when projecting college careers.

“A lot of (the 2005 class’ higher rating) has to do with the fact that E.J. Savannah and J.R. Hasty both had four stars,” Fetters said. “I don’t know if we can write the chapter on Savannah yet, but obviously Hasty was a huge wash(out).”

Tailback Hasty contributed almost nothing on the field and is no longer with the program. Meanwhile, linebacker Savannah has been a star on the field, but his career has been limited by frequent trips in and out of Willingham’s doghouse. Sarkisian has promised Savannah a fresh start.

Now, Washington must hope for more production and less drama from the top-rated recruits of this incoming class, including Trufant, linebacker Tim Tucker, defensive tackle Semisi Tokolahi and quarterback Keith Price.

“I love the quarterback Keith Price,” Kimbrel said. “I saw him at a camp and he was just on fire. He’s got a tremendous arm, he’s got tremendous leadership ability. I think he’s a great young man, and I think he’s going to be a great Husky down the line.”

Tucker and Price are two of 13 Californians who have given oral commitments to Sarkisian, who previously recruited southern California while at USC.

“He did pick up a couple of kids from southern California that were late bloomers, but that doesn’t mean they’re not good players,” Kimbrel said. “Tim Tucker from Harbor City (Narbonne High School is an outstanding player – the guy will knock your head off. He’s a middle linebacker prospect, and I wouldn’t be surprised if he ends up playing early in his career. … I think they probably knew about him because (Sarkisian) was from southern California.”

Included among the Californians are six junior college players, something Willingham shied away from, especially in his later classes.

“(As of Tuesday), Washington is leading the Pac-10 in terms of JC kids,” Fetters said. “They’ve got six kids and they could get as many as eight. They’re a lot more liberal with their idea of signing junior college players right out of the gate than Willingham ever was.”

The commitments will come rolling across the fax machine today. The results, as always, won’t be known for a few more years.

“Yes, on paper it looks like a bunch of three stars,” Kimbrel said. “But down the line it could end up being a class that helps the Huskies get back to where the fans want them to go.”

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FUTURE HUSKIES

The University of Washington is expecting to receive letters of intent from these football recruits today:

NamePos.SizeHometown (school)

Marlion BarnettTE6-2/220Corona, Calif. (Santiago)

Dorson BoyceTE6-2/250Santa Maria, Calif. (Hancock*)

Talia CrichtonDE6-4/240Lakewood, Calif. (Lakewood)

Ryan DavisDE6-4/250Norwalk, Calif. (Cerritos*)

Nathan FellnerS6-0/195Fresno (Clovis West)

Dominique GaisieCB5-10/170Walnut, Calif. (Mt. San Antonio*)

Daniel MafoeOT6-4/320Torrance, Calif. (El Camino*)

William MahanP5-11/180Bakersfield, Calif. (Bakersfield*)

Kimo Makaula DE6-2/225Honolulu (Punahou)

Keith PriceQB6-2/183Bellflower, Calif. (St. John Bosco)

Andru Pulu LB6-3/250Federal Way (Federal Way)

Chris RobinsonDT6-1/270Tustin, Calif. (Tustin)

Will Shamburger S6-1/187Bellflower, Calif. (St. John Bosco)

Johnny TivaoDT5-11/340Norwalk, Calif. (Cerritos*)

Semisi TokolahiDT6-3/290Hilo, Hawaii (Hilo)

Desmond TrufantCB5-11/170Tacoma (Wilson)

Tim TuckerLB6-2/230Harbor City, Calif. (Narbonne)

* Junior college

Don Ruiz, The News Tribune