High school football recruiting: 2021 class could go down as Washington’s best ever
For years, we’ve been wondering if the 2021 high school football class is the best Washington has ever produced. At this point, as the players are going into their senior seasons — now scheduled for spring 2021, after the WIAA pushed back the fall football season due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic — the answer seems clear: yes, it is.
“It’s hard to argue,” said Brandon Huffman, national recruiting editor for 247Sports.com.
Three players from Washington are listed in the top 10 nationally in 247’s composite rankings for 2021: Eastside Catholic defensive end J.T. Tuimoloau (uncommitted), Steilacoom receiver Emeka Egbuka (uncommitted) and Kennedy Catholic quarterback Sam Huard, committed to UW.
In total, there are seven players from the state in 2021’s Top247 national list, including O’Dea lineman and UW commit Owen Prentice at 114, Lincoln defensive back and USC commit Julien Simon at No. 147, Mount Si QB and Arizona commit Clay Millen at No. 199 and Kennedy Catholic receiver and Arizona State commit Junior Alexander at No. 224.
Egbuka was The News Tribune’s 2019 All-Area player of the year, while Simon, Alexander and Huard were all first-team selections.
“It wasn’t that long ago, the state of Washington only had two players in the Top247,” Huffman said. “In the 2019 class, the only two players in the Top247 were (Union’s) Darien Chase (at No. 200) and (Rainier Beach’s) Orin Patu (at No. 230). Now to have three guys in the top in the composite, that’s just insane when you think about where they were two years before that.”
There was no drop off with the 2021 class during their junior seasons, either. If anything, all of the athletes played even better, cementing their status as top-tier players nationally.
Tuimoloau, the No. 1 recruit in the nation in the class, led Eastside Catholic with 64 tackles and four tackles for loss. He had 11 sacks and two fumble recoveries. He holds offers from Alabama, Ohio State, Washington, Oklahoma, Oregon and others.
Egbuka, two-time Class 2A SPSL Mountain MVP, racked up 1,607 receiving yards and 25 touchdowns on 83 receptions. He had 2,240 all-purpose yards and 35 total touchdowns. And on defense, Egbuka tallied eight interceptions at corner for the Sentinels. He was Washington’s 2019 Gatorade Player of the Year. Ohio State, Washington, Clemson and Oklahoma are the four schools Egbuka is still considering.
Huard threw for 4,168 yards and 56 touchdowns in his junior season — both top marks in the state across all classifications. The UW commit averaged 347.3 yards per game through the air and completed 269-of-426 passes. He was a first-team 4A NPSL Mountain selection.
Simon had 55 tackles, five tackles for losses, two sacks, three quarterback hurries, four interceptions (two returned for touchdowns) and a fumble recovery. On offense, Simon caught 83 passes for 1,033 yards and 21 touchdowns. He had 1,474 all-purpose yards.
“You could make a case a case that Sam was the sharpest he ever was up until the Woodinville game,” Huffman said. “Emeka was the junior player of the year nationally. He put up video game numbers. … J.T.’s numbers are always going to be hard, they’re never going to be sexy compared to what Sam and Emeka will put up. But he was more of a dominant force last year.”
Several other South Sound players round out the Top 20 of the state’s Top247 rankings for 2021, including Kennedy Catholic receiver and UW commit Jabez Tinae, Bethel four-star linebacker and UW commit Will Latu, Tumwater lineman Jacob Schuster — The Olympian’s 2019 All-Area player of the year — Steilacoom linebacker and Arizona commit DJ Fryar, Eatonville athlete and UW commit Caden Jumper and Federal Way safety Jatavious Magee, a Florida Atlantic commit.
If a spring football season does happen, Washington will be missing some of its senior stars. Simon and Latu said they plan to skip their senior seasons and enroll in college early. Huard and Egbuka have indicated they intend to stick around for their final high school seasons.
