High school football recruiting: Has the SEC discovered the state of Washington?

Jacob Eason signing with Georgia started the trend.

The former Lake Stevens High School standout and five-star prospect who is regarded as the most recruited quarterback the Northwest has ever produced, joined the SEC in 2016.

He played his freshman season with the Bulldogs, starting 12 games, passing for 2,430 yards and 16 touchdowns, and was named the starter again a sophomore, before a knee injury derailed his season.

Freshman Jake Fromm took over, leading the Bulldogs to the national title game, and remained Georgia’s starter. Eason transferred to Washington, where he is sitting out this season, per NCAA eligibility rules.

But Eason’s willingness to move east, and his productive stint in Georgia, turned SEC eyes toward the northwest, said Brandon Huffman, the national recruiting editor at 247Sports.com.

“Even though he came back home, Jacob Eason was really the one that opened the floodgates,” Huffman said.

Since Eason — who also had offers from Alabama, Florida and Tennessee before ultimately signing with Georgia — high school players in Washington have seen their stock rise significantly in the eyes of SEC recruiters.

“They hadn’t hit the West Coast all that hard until the past couple of years,” Huffman said. “Maybe some Southern California schools, but there had been this pessimism that West Coast kids couldn’t play at a high level.

“But when you see the West Coast kids that go to the Midwest, they go to the SEC or the ACC and play at a high level it’s, OK, they can play, they’re willing to come this far, let’s start planting (seeds).”

There is only one player who hails from a high school in Washington currently playing in the SEC: Missouri long snapper James Workman, who attended Liberty of Issaquah and then San Jose State.

But there are 10 active high school players in the state right now who have offers from SEC schools — and six of those athletes have more than one.

Only four of the 12 programs in the SEC (Auburn, Kentucky, Ole Miss and South Carolina) haven’t yet extended an offer to a Washington athlete currently playing high school football.

“Most places don’t always recruit the state of Washington, so I think they always feel like it’s something that’s untapped,” Kennedy Catholic coach Sheldon Cross said. “These SEC schools think, let’s go up there and see what we can do.

“It’s not like every school in the country is flying to Texas and Florida and Southern California. I think they feel like it’s this untapped market, and once one of them does well and they flourish, then more are going to come recruit this area.”

Cross’ quarterback at Kennedy Catholic, sophomore Sam Huard — who tied the state record for single-game passing touchdowns (10) in last week’s season opener — is one of six players with an offer from Florida.

Juniors Gee Scott (Eastside Catholic) and Sav’ell Smalls (Garfield), sophomores Julien Simon (Lincoln) and J.T. Tuimoloau (Eastside Catholic) and freshman Tyrone Taylor (Rainier Beach) are also targets for the Gators.

Before Eason, the only player from Washington in more than a decade that was recruited by Florida was Gig Harbor tight end Austin Seferian-Jenkins, who went on to play at UW and then on to the NFL.

“You’ll see more and more of these kids willing to go take a look at (ACC and SEC) schools,” Huffman said. “And it’s going to make the local schools have to recruit that much harder, because those (other) schools become more attractive.”

There was interest in Washington players from SEC schools in the five-year span before Eason committed, but very little in the years prior to 2011.

The 2015 class had five recruits with SEC offers, but each only had one. The 2014 class had four recruits, led by Chiawana’s Deion Singleton, who had six SEC offers before choosing Washington State.

Bellevue’s Myles Jack led the 2013 class of four SEC recruits with three offers, and Lakes’ Zach Banner the 2012 class with four. Seferian-Jenkins was the only 2011 recruit from the state with SEC offers.

According to 247Sports.com, SEC schools — including Missouri and Texas A&M, which joined the conference in 2012 — have extended 77 offers to high school players in Washington in the past 15 years, and 70 of them have been to recruits in the 2011 class or later.

Smalls, a five-star linebacker who is considered the No. 3 recruit nationally in that class, leads the way with five offers from Alabama, Florida, Georgia, LSU and Tennessee, while Ferndale’s Geirean Hatchett, a four-star offensive guard, has four SEC schools targeting him.

Three Eastside Catholic athletes in that class, tight end D.J. Rogers (three offers), running back Sam Adams (one), and Scott (one) have also drawn interest.

The Crusaders have the most active high school players with SEC offers right now with four, led by Tuimoloau, the four-star defensive tackle who is the top recruit in the 2021 class and has SEC offers from Alabama, Florida and Tennessee.

Rainier Beach has two players with SEC offers in senior offensive tackle Nathaniel Kalepo (Missouri, Tennessee and Vanderbilt), who has already verbally committed to UW, and wide receiver Taylor.

Lincoln’s Simon, whose late interception lifted the Abes to a season-opening win against Camas last week, and who is considered a four-star athlete by 247Sports.com, is the only South Sound player with SEC offers.

Both Florida and Tennessee have offered, and Simon has also attended camp at Alabama.

“It was amazing,” Simon told The News Tribune in August. “The whole time I was there, I just took everything in. Their facilities, the coaches, everything is just top notch.”

When Simon was there, a video of him in Crimson Tide uniform walking through the locker room went viral on social media. Another photo from that visit shows him holding the national championship trophy.

“I think that’s a trend you’ll see more and more,” Huffman said of locals visiting and being recruited more heavily by East Coast conferences.

And it’s not just the SEC. The ACC is scouting Washington talent. Former Kentwood defensive lineman Jared Goldwire plays at Louisville. Will Huggins, who has Richland ties, plays at Miami. Spanaway Lake’s Lakiem Williams plays at Syracuse.

And Garfield’s Tre’Shaun Harrison, The News Tribune’s all-state player of the year in 2017, followed former Oregon coach Willie Taggart to Florida State.

Five schools in the ACC — Clemson, Duke, Florida State, Louisville and Virginia — have offers out to current Washington preps, led by the Seminoles with four to Scott, Smalls, Steilacoom sophomore wide receiver Emeka Egbuka and Kennedy Catholic freshman Kieran Collins.

With these eastern conferences putting more eyes on Washington talent, there will be more of a pull toward schools on the opposite coast, Huffman says.

“You’re going to see more kids willing to go across the country to play football,” he said.

This story was originally published September 4, 2018 at 5:20 PM.