Washington coach Jedd Fisch heads to the locker room at Husky Stadium before Saturday’s game with no. 1 Ohio State.. The Ohio State Buckeyes played the Washington Huskies in Big-Ten Football Saturday, Sept. 27,... (Dean Rutz / The Seattle Times)
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By Matt Calkins Seattle Times columnist
About a week ago, I read a story in which a writer predicted that Washington football coach Jedd Fisch would take the then-vacant Florida job. The author of said story said the hire wouldn’t necessarily be “flashy” if it came to pass but acknowledged the possibility that it might happen.
Well, we now know that Fisch is staying with the Huskies for the foreseeable future. This is a good thing for UW fans. Because regardless of whether the man is “flashy” — he gets results.
Wednesday proved that once again.
In the first of two national signing days, the Huskies landed the 13th-best recruiting class in the country, according to 247sports.com. This is the highest-ranked class UW has had in the history of that site, which launched in 1999.
Remember what then-Washington athletic director Troy Dannen said when he first introduced Fisch in January of last year. He underscored Jedd’s ability to recruit, above all. That’s what helped him turn Arizona from a 1-11 team to a 10-3 team in three seasons. And it’s what has Washington on a similar trajectory.
Few knew what to expect from the Huskies after Kalen DeBoer left on the heels of a run to the national championship game two seasons ago. Not only did Washington see its biggest personnel turnover in program history, but it couldn’t replenish during the winter transfer portal window because it was A) still competing, and B) didn’t know it would lose its coach.
But after a 6-6 regular season last year, an 8-4 regular season this year and a No. 13 recruiting class? You couldn’t ask for a better rebuild if you’re being realistic.
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“We’re excited about the direction of the program for sure. And I believe it’s kinda coming together as we hoped and planned,” Fisch said Wednesday. “We felt when we arrived here, looking at a roster that only had 40 scholarship players that it was going to take some time. But we don’t like time. We don’t want to spend a lot of time complaining or worrying or trying to figure it out so we said, ‘Hey we gotta get to work and see what we can do.’
“We recruited well the first year, we wanted to recruit better. We did recruit better the second year. Our goal is to continue that trajectory and see how good we can be, and I believe we have not reached the ceiling in any way shape or form.”
The Huskies are in pretty elite company recruiting-wise. Ahead of them in the rankings are, in order: USC, Oregon, Notre Dame, Alabama, Georgia, Ohio State, Tennessee, Texas, Texas A&M, Miami, Michigan and LSU. Cut the skin on any of those programs and blue will gush out.
But with this haul, you have to think the Huskies will be a threat to anyone they play in 2026. They just keep improving.
In all, there are 24 commits in this class. The Dawgs got one five-star recruit, 10 four-stars and 13 three-stars. The five-star is offensive tackle Kodi Greene, who was the top recruit in California. Fisch said he expects the Santa Ana Mater Dei student to start out of the gate. The fact that Fisch and his staff got Greene to flip after committing to Oregon is a testament to what he’s building.
And from three four-star receivers, to the seventh-ranked running back to touted players across the defense, it’s a complete class. Doesn’t mean they’ll all have an instant impact, but Washington has the feel of a destination for top-tier talent.
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Accomplished as Chris Petersen was — he won three Pac-12 titles and took Washington to the CFP semifinals, he wasn’t able to recruit like this. Successful as DeBoer was — he went 25-3 in two seasons — his classes couldn’t compare.
It obviously doesn’t matter how talented your roster is if the players can’t execute, but Fisch showed in Tucson (and so far in Seattle) that he can get them to do just that.
“Really thrilled about where we are,” Fisch said. “I feel like we are taking another step in the right direction in order to compete to be Big Ten champions.”
Winning the Big Ten might be every bit as difficult as winning a national title these days. It may very well have taken over the SEC as the top conference in the country.
It’s a tall ask to be atop that league. But Fisch has been on top of his job from the second he arrived. Huskies fans shouldn’t be satisfied yet, but they should be pleased.
UW’s 2026 recruiting class
*: local recruit
(): signed with UW
(☒): signed with another team
Matt Calkins: mcalkins@seattletimes .com. Matt Calkins has been a sports columnist with the Seattle Times since 2015, where he has covered national title games, got a Seahawk to design his apartment and once extracted a two-word quote from Marshawn Lynch.
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