Washington football recruiting: how the class is shaping up

No one wants to wait for anything these days. We want what we want and we want it now.

I think most Husky fans were hoping for more of a splash from Chris Petersen in year one and not another Seven-win Steve kind of year, but unfortunately, that's the kind of year that the Dawgs have had. It takes time to change a program. Steve Sarkisian didn't turn Tyrone Willingham's Huskies (ugh) into a perennial bowl team overnight and Chris Petersen wasn't going to turn Steve Sarkisian's Huskies (meh) into the Pac-12 North champs overnight.

Just like they do with wins and losses, fans wants immediate upgrades in recruiting too. And you guessed it, the class Petersen and his staff are putting together isn't considered a huge win over any of Sark's previous classes.

I'm not a big "trust the staff" and "recruiting rankings mean nothing" kind of guy because those are usually ready-made excuses waiting to be thrown out when things don't go as well in recruiting as others expect. I'm a trust what I see guy and what I see is some really good potential in this Huskies recruiting class that has 16 players currently committed. There may not be a Shaq Thompson type of impact athlete committed, but there are plenty of players that are going to be major contributors over the next few years in the Pac-12.

Instant impact commit

This was not an obvious choice because the most talented recruits in this class are probably going to have to sit for a little while and develop, but the player I think can come in and make a contribution early is 3 star wide receiver Andre Baccellia.

If he was a bit bigger, I think he would have a higher ranking and garner a lot more attention. Regardless of that, I really like the skills he has and think they translate to him getting on the field early as a returner and as a slot receiver. He's really advanced in his route running for his age and does a nice job of setting up defensive backs and exploding out of his breaks. He shows good hands and great acceleration.

He'll compete for playing time as soon as he steps on campus.

Don't sleep on _______

I'm not even going to attempt to narrow this down because there are several committed recruits that have the ability to outplay their ranking at the college level. 3 star running back Myles Gaskin is another good player to come out of O'Dea in Seattle and likely would be getting more hype if he hailed from another state. I love his speed, vision, and the way he makes people miss in the open field.

Defensive end Jason Scrempos has the kind of size and frame that are ideal for a defensive lineman in just about any scheme. He has surprising athleticism for how big he is and has not even scratched the surface as to how good he can become.

3 star athlete Quinten Pounds is the most recent addition to the class and he could end up being a great one at UW. He has the athletic skills to play receiver or corner. I wouldn't be shocked at all to see him emerge as a player that the southern California schools are kicking themselves about missing out on a couple of years down the road.

Big fish still on the reel

There are a couple of blue chip kids still on Washington's radar, but the most intriguing name is 4 star running back Chris Warren. Yup, he's the son of the former Seahawks running back that has the same name. He visited back in the summer and has yet to take any official visits yet, but Lars Hanson of Realdawg.com recently put in a Crystal Ball pick for Warren to the Huskies.

It looks like he's going out on a limb by doing so with so many other predictions for Warren heading to Texas, but it would be a massive get to land one of the best power backs in the entire recruiting class. He's built to play immediately at the college level and him and Gaskin would be a terrific duo that would compliment each other on the field.

Here's my scouting report on Warren.

Overall

Even though the rankings might not say blue chip, there is a ton of talent in this class and even more potential to develop. Henry Roberts and Trey Adams, who I think is severely underrated, have the chance to be two of the best offensive tackles in the conference in a few years. In a year loaded at quarterback in California, 4 star Jake Browning is one of the top passers on the west coast and has the talent to beat out the quarterbacks that are already at UW. Wide receiver Isaiah Renfro has the physical ability to develop into a difference maker at Washington as well.

When this class is completed in February, I expect it will finish somewhere in the top 30 classes in the nation. That fits right around where Sark had the program recruiting at. I'm sure it's not the splash fans were expecting in recruiting just like it's been on the field this season, but with Petersen's track record of developing players, I don't expect the recruiting classes and the results on the field to remain at Seven-win Steve levels for too much longer.