DB[/b]
Needed - At least two corners and a couple of safeties for a team losing 5 DB’s.
Got -
Trent McDuffie / St. John Bosco (Bellflower, CA) / #126 Overall Composite (4-Star) / #61 Overall 247 (4-Star)
Asa Turner / Carlsbad (Carlsbad, CA) / #300 Overall Composite (4-Star) / #198 Overall 247 (4-Star)
Kamren Fabiculanan / Westlake (Thousand Oaks, CA) / #378 Overall Composite (4-Star) / #226 Overall 247 (4-Star)
Cameron Williams / Bakersfield (Bakersfield, CA) / #404 Overall Composite (3-Star) / #322 Overall 247 (4-Star)
Analysis - Jimmy Lake has done it again! It’s almost ho hum at this point. UW loses 5 DBs including two early entries, and I don’t think anyone has major concerns about the secondary next year or going forward. Jimmy Lake scouts, recruits and develops as well or better than anyone in the country. He also succeeds at making Tom Loy look dumb again and again. Did I mention Jimmy Lake is good?
Okay, enough about my non Swayexual mancrush. Let’s talk about the kids enrolling in
#DBU. McDuffie was my favorite CB in the class, a kid I fell in love with early once I realized he had ties to Julius Irving and had speed, speed, speed. He’s going to be a star at CB and a superstar at punt returner, where we need an immediate upgrade. He should play right away and Aaron Fuller should never return another punt. Defensively he could play inside or outside and will be another first or second round pick one day. Lather. Rinse. Repeat.
The best safety in the west, Turner’s was the most rollercoaster recruitment of the class, committing to UW early, flirting with ND throughout, deleting his Twitter history, making more Tweets, deleting them again, etc. He was kind of exhausting. Good thing he’s worth the headache. Boy is he worth it. A tall, long safety with ball skills and a huge frame, Turner is probably going to make more highlight reel, game changing big plays than anyone in this class save maybe Latu. He’ll start at Taylor Rapp’s safety spot by his sophomore year at the latest and hold the spot until he leaves for the draft, probably early. It’s just too bad Lake’s going to move him to LB early in his career.
Fabiculananana was one of my four or five favorite corners in the west. He does everything well, covers well, hits hard, has good ball skills and shows good athleticism. He might take the Jordan Miller career path and might be similarly underrated like Miller but he’ll play in the NFL for a long time just like Miller is about to. Big time get.
Williams is the super rare Jimmy Lake recruit who I like less than the recruiting sites. He can hit like JoJo McIntosh and actually has ball skills, but I fear his lack of speed and athleticism is going to catch up to him at the next level. He was a major playmaker in HS though. If that translates he could be a very good one, but I think he carries some risk of never seeing the field.[/b]
Primary recruiter - Todd Light’s Daddy
Talent Grade: A-
Fit Grade: A
Quantity Grade: B (They obviously wanted one more here and I would have liked to have seen them get one more. I think had they known they were going to lose Joyner and both Rapp and Murphy were leaving early they would have pursued Criddell or Darien Chase, maybe both).
Overall Grade: A-
How does the class compare to 2018? Talent wise it’s probably an ever so slight downgrade[/b] as Lake hit three home runs last year and *only* two home runs, a triple and a double this year. Filling one more spot this time around was good, and needed though.
Specialists
[/b]
Needed - Someone who can hit field goals and kick the ball deep on kickoffs to prevent our awful coverage from being exploited. Did not need a punter. Should not be scholarshipping long snappers.
Got: Timothy Horn / Punahou (Honolulu, HI) / #1899 Overall Composite (3-Star) / #2237 Overall 247 (3-Star)
Analysis - It’s not a major stretch to say that UW is a field goal kicker away from two more wins the last two years, which would make us look significantly closer to the elite. The good news it they got the kicker they wanted, all indications are that Horn was number one on their list and he has a monster leg (and a large frame). The bad news is that Horn was very inaccurate this year and this is one position this staff has shown no ability to develop (nor evaluate). I think Horn has the tools to be a good college FG kicker but I don’t think he’s ready to be one next year, nor am I confident this staff has what it takes to help him get there. At least he should help address the kickoff issues.
Primary recruiter - Malloe, maybe?
Talent Grade: B-
Fit Grade: B-
Quantity Grade: A (you can only take one)
Overall Grade: B
How does the class compare to 2018? We neither took nor needed one last year, so hard to compare[/b].