Washington coach Jedd Fisch leads his team into Husky Stadium before Big-Ten Football game against the Ohio State Buckeyes Sept. 27, 2025. (Dean Rutz / The Seattle Times, 2025)
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By
Andy Yamashita
Seattle Times staff reporter
It’s hard to imagine a better start to the 2027 recruiting cycle for wide receivers coach Kevin Cummings and the Huskies.
Washington picked up its third commitment of the 2027 cycle on Thursday when Zerek Sidney, a wide receiver from Goodyear, Ariz., announced his commitment to the Huskies during a livestream on the CBS Sports YouTube channel.
Sidney is the second receiver to pledge to join UW after Cummings previously landed a commitment from local Sumner High standout Braylon Pope.
Sidney, listed 6-foot, 175-pounds, chose Washington out of a final three that also included Arizona State and Oklahoma. He’s a four-star recruit, the No. 6 player in Arizona, the No. 36 wide receiver and the No. 346 player nationally, according to the 247Sports composite rankings.
“Not the biggest or strongest target,” Andrew Ivins, 247Sports director of scouting wrote in an evaluation on Jan. 27, “but attacks the football with impressive body positioning and will absorb contact in traffic.”
Sidney held 30 FBS offers including Arizona, Arkansas, California, Florida State, Indiana, Kansas, Maryland, Miami, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Notre Dame, Ole Miss, Purdue, SMU, Stanford, Tennessee, Texas, Texas A&M, UCLA, USC, Vanderbilt and Wisconsin among others.
Washington was the second Power Four program to offer Sidney back in May, 2024, several months before his breakout sophomore campaign at Desert Edge High in Mesa, Ariz. After playing four games on varsity as a freshman, Sidney caught 45 passes for 591 yards receiving and 11 touchdowns in 12 games to help Desert Edge win the 2024 Arizona Class 5A state championship.
Sidney was poised for a big junior season, and Desert Edge entered the 2025 playoffs as the division’s top seed, but the blue-chip wide receiver was limited to just four games because of injury. He caught 11 passes for 111 yards receiving and a touchdown in 2025.
“Must rebound as a senior and keep developing,” Ivins wrote, “but should be viewed as a potential multiyear contributor at the Power Four level that can settle in as a trusted No. 2 option in a timing-based attack.”
Sidney continues Cummings’ recent run of recruiting success. After finishing the 2026 cycle on a high note by flipping composite four-star receivers Jordan Clay and Trez Davis from Baylor and Tulane, respectively, Cummings received a commitment from Pope to start UW’s 2027 class. The Sumner native is considered the No. 1 player in Washington for the 2027 cycle by the composite rankings and is also a four-star prospect.
During the past three recruiting cycles, Cummings has landed 11 total wide receivers. Seven were composite four-star recruits: Chris Lawson (2025), Marcus Harris (2025), Mason James (2026), Davis (2026), Clay (2026), Pope (2027) and now Sidney (2027). Only Harris, who transferred to UCLA on Jan. 10, has exited the program.
Sidney’s commitment also continued Cummings’ strong recruitment of Arizona. Sidney is the third wide receiver from the Grand Canyon State to pledge to join the Huskies during Cummings’ tenure, following Dezmen Roebuck and Raiden Vines-Bright, who each signed with UW before the 2025 season. Vines-Bright transferred to Arizona State on Jan. 4.
Arizona and California have been the most productive recruiting hot beds for Cummings and the Huskies, with both states sending three wideouts to Seattle during the past three recruiting cycles.
UW’s 2027 recruiting class
| Name | Position | Composite rating | Signed? | Height / Weight | School | Hometown |
| *Braylon Pope | WR | ★★★★ | 6-3 / 195 | Sumner High | Sumner, Wash. | |
| Zerek Sidney | WR | ★★★★ | 6-0 / 175 | Desert Edge High | Goodyear, Ariz. | |
| *Maurice Williams | CB | ★★★ | 6-1 / 180 | Graham-Kapowsin High | Graham, Wash. |
*: local recruit
(
(☒): signed with another team
Andy Yamashita: ayamashita@seattletimes.com. Andy Yamashita is a sports reporter at The Seattle Times, primarily covering Washington Huskies football.
