UW links: The News Tribune’s 2016 Western 100 includes 12 players committed to Washington (plus hoops notes and more)
It’s just about time to leave Los Angeles, where the Washington Huskies men’s basketball team split its road trip here against UCLA and USC. Here are some links wrapping up UW’s week, plus a look at our Western 100 feature about Chris Petersen’s recruiting philosophy.
--- First, the football story, examining how Petersen and his staff have a somewhat different definition of the word “committed” than many other program. An excerpt:
As National Letter of Intent signing day looms this Wednesday, the Washington Huskies are prepared, as of now, to add 17 players to their roster.
And because recruiting never stops, there are already several prospects, UW coach Chris Petersen said, who say they are ready to make an oral commitment to play for the Huskies in the class of 2017.
But when some of those players tell Petersen about their desire to commit, the coach sometimes does a funny thing.
He tells them to wait a bit.
“We’re slowing them down,” Petersen said, “because they haven’t come up to Washington. They need to come up and see us. They think they know what we’re all about from afar, but they need to really know what we’re about. They need to sit down face to face, see what we’re about, and they need to check out other programs, too.”
At the crux of that attitude is Petersen’s belief that a commitment should mean more than it does in typical college football parlance.
The way he sees it, too many prospects announce commitments as if they are simply reservations, “committing” to one school only as long as it takes to get an offer from another school they would rather attend.
“We’re trying to get away from that,” Petersen said.
--- Here are capsules for the News Tribune’s 2016 Western 100, as assembled by TJ Cotterill and Todd Milles. This year’s list includes 12 players committed to Washington -- QB Daniel Bridge-Gadd, RB Sean McGrew, TE Jacob Kizer, OL Luke Wattenberg, LB Camilo Eifler, LB Brandon Wellington, DL Amandre Williams, DB Taylor Rapp, DB Isaiah Gilchrist, DB Byron Murphy, DB Kentrell Love and P Van Soderberg.
--- Here is an interactive map and database to help you parse the Western 100.
--- Here is my story from UW’s 98-88 loss at USC on Saturday afternoon. As of Saturday night, the Huskies were in a three-way tie for second place in the Pac-12 standings with a 6-3 record -- a half-game behind Oregon (the Ducks are 6-2 and play at Arizona State on Sunday) and a half-game ahead of Colorado (the Buffaloes host California on Sunday).
--- And the story from the Seattle Times.
--- Here’s a story about the game from the Los Angeles Times.
--- Missed this the other day, but UW offensive lineman Dane Crane announced his retirement from football due to injuries.
Christian Caple can be reached at christian.caple@thenewstribune.com. Twitter: @ChristianCaple
This story was originally published January 31, 2016 at 12:24 AM with the headline "UW links: The News Tribune’s 2016 Western 100 includes 12 players committed to Washington (plus hoops notes and more)."