Although it would be great for UW to land every in-state recruit they want they don't need most of them and will likely have out-of-state options that are just as good if not better. Smalls, Hatchett, and JT Tui would sting. I'm not worried about the rest. Winning this season and in 2019 is what matters. Keep winning and the elite talent will come. I don't care where it comes from.
In-state talent is great because THEORETICALLY you have a better chance of landing a local kid than not.
But here's the great thing about WINNING … more doors are open to you. As a result, you get to be more picky.
IF we were in a spot where we had a lot of kids falling out of our program, heavy attrition, lots of transfers, etc., then I might get a little more concerned because our class size would go from 18-21 to 21-25 on a regular basis. Losing the in-state kids really starts to impact our classes the more kids that we need to go get.
Honestly, there are really 3 primary things that really matter to me from a recruiting standpoint:
1) We MUST recuit at a high enough level on the OL/DL that we're able to compete with teams on a National Level. When we take guys like Nick Harris we're going to have our issues on that stage. When we have guys like Watty, Bain and Victor Curne playing for us on the inside (guys that could play T for a lot of P5 programs), then we're where we need to be.
2) The one positional advantage that we have on the West Coast comparatively to the SEC is at the QB position ... we must be able to have difference maker type QBs that are able to make the kind of throws that are rare and can beat good to great defense. We're well stocked here.
3) Skill positions on both sides of the ball ... we don't have to get the best of the best per se ... but we need to be in the discussion where we're taking the 1B level kids (high 4's or high DDY2's to low DDY 3's) and then rely on chips on shoulder plus better development/coaching to get those players to outperform.
The paradigm is changing for in-state kids and what a UW offer meant. For better/worse, because UW recruited so heavily in-state for so long, there's an expectation that if you are a solid in-state player we''ll come charging after you. That was yesterday. Where the program is today it's not about that and instead about getting the best players we can get in the class regardless of position and those players have to fit what we want out of players. That's how elite programs recruit.
