Everything's Big in Texas, Including the UW Football Recruiting Effort

From Dallas to Dimmitt to Denton, the University of Washington football program has scoured Texas for talent for decades. If only Dillon was a real place, Husky recruiters would have beaten a path to that town, as well.

Imagine Tim Riggins in a UW uniform — had the Friday Night Lights character actually been a real person.

Now comes larger-than-life Emeka Megwa from Fort Worth, a third consecutive running back from the Lone Star state for the Huskies, possibly the most heralded Southwest player enticed to Seattle.

An examination of decades of UW football rosters shows at least three dozen Huskies have been culled from Texas, beginning in 1929 with a little-used running back named Clarence Bledsoe from Greenville, a town 50 miles north of Dallas.

Today, Jimmy Lake's UW roster features five Texans, among them starting outside linebacker Cooper McDonald (Haslet), wide receiver starter and now injured Ja'Lynn Polk (Lufkin), starting right tackle Victor Curne (Houston) and reserve freshmen running backs Jay'Veon Sunday (Waco) and Caleb Berry (Lufkin).

"It's a state that gets visited a lot by the rest of the whole country and it's tough sledding, but we've been able to pull some really good players out of there, and Emeka's one of them," Lake said. "We've got some really good players and that will continue. It's part of our footprint."

The first Texan to play a significant role for the Huskies was Jay Hornbeak, who started at quarterback in 1932 and hailed from Corsicana, a small town south of Dallas.

Thereafter for the next quarter century, the Huskies welcomed only the occasional player from the state until hiring Texas A&M assistant coach Jim Owens in 1957 to replace Darrell Royal, who left to coach the Texas Longhorns.

Owens soon welcomed running back George Fleming from Dallas by way of East Los Angeles Junior College in 1958, and a year later Fleming was named co-most valuable player at the Rose Bowl.

Two years later, Junior Coffey from tiny Dimmitt, which is north of Lubbock in the panhandle and east of Roswell, New Mexico, lined up at fullback for the Huskies and led the conference in rushing as a sophomore. He enjoyed a lengthy NFL career, became a noted thoroughbred horse trainer and recently passed away.

Don James welcomed the occasional Texan in his nearly two full decades of Husky coaching, foremost Willis Ray Mackey, a freshman running back from Luling. Mackey finished up that first year in the 1979 Sun Bowl in El Paso, where he scored the winning touchdown on a 4-yard run in the second quarter of a 14-7 victory — over Texas.

In more recent decades, the UW found significant contributors from Texas in fullback James Compton (Bandera), cornerback William Doctor (El Paso), wide receiver Fred Coleman (Tyler) and tight end Kevin Ware (Spring).

It wasn't until the end of the Chris Petersen era that the Huskies made a concentrated effort to stock up on Texans, bringing in wide receiver Aaron Fuller (McKinney), tailback Gavin McDaniel (Coppell), defensive tackle Levi Onwuzurike (Allen), linebacker Myles Rice (Houston), Curne, McDonald and Sunday.

Since becoming Husky coach Lake has added Polk, Berry and Megwa, the latter passing up his high senior year to enroll at the UW and remains on the constant lookout for more Lone Star talent. He has at least 3 coaches who scour the area for players and he regularly sends his recruiters in to make connections. It works.

"The prospects see the W," Lake said, pointing to his T-shirt, "and they know the University of Washington is in town."

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