Shehee's 1993 UW Class Panned, Nearly Splintered After James Quit

The running back from Bakersfield, California, and his freshmen teammates had to decide whether to stay or not.

Rashaan Shehee originally wanted to play for Michigan. He liked the Wolverines uniforms.

The running back from Bakersfield, California, next orally committed to Oregon. He was swayed by the recruiting trip to Eugene.

In the end, Shehee signed a national letter intent with the University of Washington. He settled on the Huskies because of the program's recent run of Rose Bowl success, great players such as Napoleon Kaufman, who he'd played against in high school, and the UW's illustrious football coach in Don James. 

He wasn't in fall camp long before James abruptly resigned, shocking all of his players. The coach left over what he deemed were far too excessive Pac-10 penalties.

Shehee and some of fellow freshmen from the Class of 1993 nearly followed the Husky leader out the door.

"Our class had a decision to make," he said. "We had guys thinking of leaving. Obviously, it crosses your mind. I was recruited by coach James. This was not was I was in this for."

The newcomers, however, met as a group, talked out a turbulent situation and made a collective decision.

"We decided to stick together," Shehee said. "We decided to turn some heads."

Shehee came in with players such as outside linebacker Jason Chorak, Jeremy Brigham and Cam Cleeland, all eventual NFL players.

They already had dealt with unfavorable recruiting assessments that were hard to hear, with their entire class given an insulting "C" grade. They weren't supposed to be very good. And now their coach was gone.

Dealing with the ensuing two-year probation and scholarship restrictions, this 1993 Class of Huskies compiled a 38-19-1 over five seasons, collected victories over Miami, Ohio State and Michigan State, and achieved a national ranking as high as No. 2 during the 1997 season.

"We came to Washington for a reason," said Shehee, who finished with 2,381 yards rushing in his Husky career and played in the NFL himself. "We decided to see this all the way through."

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