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Inside The Huskies

Huskies-Bosco Football Pipeline Fully Operational These Days

The UW has brought in nearly a dozen players from that LA high school, with more coming.
Dan Raley|
Linebacker Ethan Coach, a UW commit, share a St. John Bosco moment with Trent McDuffie, the former Husky corner.
Linebacker Ethan Coach, a UW commit, share a St. John Bosco moment with Trent McDuffie, the former Husky corner. | Coach

Going back to the days of Hugh McElhenny, the University of Washington football program has fully understood it needs players from Los Angeles to build around to be successful.

McElhenny was richly compensated in an NIL manner 70 years before it was legal, with upper campus telling the coaching staff to bring the running back north from Compton Junior College no matter what the cost.

Once Don James took over 50 years ago, he immediately brought a quarterback from West Los Angeles Junior College to lead his rebuilding efforts, a guy named Warren Moon.

Lately, the Huskies keep revisiting the halls of St. John Bosco High School to fulfill this quest, with a Friday photo on social media validating these efforts.

It was Trent McDuffie and Ethan Coach.

The old and the new.

A former Bosco and Husky standout -- and now richest cornerback in the NFL -- alongside a current Braves linebacker who is a twin and a UW commitment.

Since the new millennium began, the Huskies have made St. John Bosco a regular stop in search of football talent.

Over nearly the past decade and a half, the UW has brought in 11 former Braves through high school recruitment or the transfer portal, with another three on the way in the current allotment that's committed to Jedd Fisch's staff.

Steve Sarkisian's Husky recruiters started the run of Bosco talent to Montlake by signing quarterback Keith Price and safety Will Shamburger as freshmen for their 2009 team. Price became a 38-game starter, Shamburger a 16-game first-teamer.

With Chris Petersen in charge, the Huskies missed on defensive back Naijiel Hale, who signed in 2014 but stayed only one season.

Petersen next had a good run of capable Bosco signees in running back Sean McGrew in 2016, wide receiver Terrell Bynum in 2017 and cornerback Trent McDuffie in 2019.

McGrew became an 11-game starter, Bynum a 19-game regular and McDuffie pulled 25 starts, with the latter turning into a first-round NFL draft pick.

Jimmy Lake's coaching staff signed Bosco cornerback James Smith in 2020, but the defender stayed only briefly in Montlake.

Kalen DeBoer came in and signed Bosco linebacker Deven Bryant, who served as a 10-game starter this past season before transferring to USC, and linebacker Ralen Goforth, who transferred to the UW in 2023 after playing for the Trojans.

DeBoer also signed Braves linebacker Khmori House for the 2024 season, where House became a five-game starter for Jedd Fisch, but transferred to North Carolina and then on to Arkansas.

This April, the Huskies welcomed Bosco kicker CJ Wallace to spring practice, encouraging him to win the job.

With 18 commits in hand, the UW is waiting on the Coach twins, linebackers Ethan and Justin, to finish up at Bosco, along with well-regarded safety Isala Wily-Ava, and keep the L.A.-to-Seattle pipeline intact.

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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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