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If Gone, Bernard Completes 3-Recruit Defection from Huskies

The Liberty High trio from Henderson, Nevada, was committed and visited Seattle together.
Dan Raley|
If Gone, Bernard Completes 3-Recruit Defection from Huskies
If Gone, Bernard Completes 3-Recruit Defection from Huskies

Inside an empty Husky stadium, the University of Washington football team was getting ready to face Arizona.

Outside, UW commits Anthony Jones, Germie Bernard and Sir Mells, teammates from Liberty High School in Henderson, Nevada, gathered around a bronzed statue of a Husky mascot and had someone snap a photo.

They flew up on their own together, booked a hotel room and toured the campus, though unable to mix with anyone or attend the football game that day because of pandemic restrictions.

So much for best-laid plans. For impromptu buddy getaways. For being Huskies.

Fourteen months later, it appears all three football players have turned their back on the now Kalen DeBoer-led UW program and scattered to the wind, with multiple reports that Bernard has or will be granted his release from his national letter of intent.

As this point, Bernard has made no public pronouncement nor has the Husky athletic department removed him from the Husky football roster as it does immediately when players leave. 

A 4-star wide receiver as rated by the web analysts, Bernard was the prize recruit of this trio. A month ago, he was the only one still around who signed with the UW.

Yet it appears the recent departure of receivers coach Junior Adams to Oregon changed everything for him, though the photo he posted of a snowy Husky Stadium last week made people wonder if he was long for Seattle. 

Jones and Mells, a 3-star edge rusher and a 3-star defensive tackle, withdrew their oral commitments once UW defensive coordinator Pete Kwiatkowski resigned to take the Texas job.

Jones followed Kwiatkowski and committed to the Longhorns before signing with Oregon, while Mells signed with the Ducks, with Eugene now  a possible landing spot for Bernard.

Two UW coaching changes appear to have cost the program three recruits and seriously fractured a strong recruiting connection the previous two coaching staffs had built with Liberty High School in Nevada.

The photos, which include one of DeBoer standing in Bernard's living room shortly after he was hired, are useless other than reminding everyone what once might have been.

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Dan Raley
DAN RALEY

Dan Raley has worked for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, as well as for MSN.com and Boeing, the latter as a global aerospace writer. His sportswriting career spans four decades and he's covered University of Washington football and basketball during much of that time. In a working capacity, he's been to the Super Bowl, the NBA Finals, the MLB playoffs, the Masters, the U.S. Open, the PGA Championship and countless Final Fours and bowl games.

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