2020 Eye On Recruiting: Deep in The Heart of Texas
When Houston native Myles Rice committed to Washington in 2016, it seemed a bit farfetched that a kid from Texas would give the cold shoulder to his hometown Houston Cougars.
Rice attended Bush High School, which was less than a 30-minute drive to the Houston campus and just an hour from the Gulf of Mexico. It made no difference to the outside linebacker that he was leaving high-humidity temperatures in the 90s for Seattle and its average high of 78 degrees.
"Honestly, the weather didn't matter," Rice said. "Washington was just the right school for me."
He said that after meeting the Husky coaches, especially Chris Petersen, and was ready to commit that day. They encouraged him to discuss the offer with his family. and think about it on his four-hour flight back to Houston. Rice already had his mind made up.
"Coach Pete spoke about life after football," Rice recalled. "His message wasn't only about football."
Rice's football career didn't go as planned, with his contributions slowed by injuries. Yet he graduated this past year. He came away certain that Petersen had prepared him well for life after football in pursing a career in graphic design and photography.
A year after signing Rice, UW coaches returned to the Lone Star state and snagged highly-decorated defensive lineman Levi Onwuzurike from Allen High School. Onwuzurike was a part of a historic run of success at one of Texas' most storied high school football programs just north of Dallas. Football is king in Texas and Allen is royalty. From 2008 to 2015, the school won five state championships.
The UW already had built a solid relationship with Onwuzurike before everyone wanted him, according to Greg Powers, senior recruiting analyst at Dave Campbell's Texas Football.
Powers noted that it's widely known across the Southwest that Washington doesn't hand out scholarship offers to just anybody.
"Recruits know the value of an offer from UW," Powers said.
Husky coaches found there's tremendous value in building relationships with players and coaches in Texas. According to 247Sports.com, Onwuzurike's .8997 recruiting rating slotted him as the 48th-highest-rated player in Texas in the class of 2016. That would have placed him at fourth in Washington state.
"Washington was able to identify Onwuzurike and make an impact on his recruitment before he became a big-time national name," Powers said. "Washington had established a good relationship with him long before that rise."
Powers says that relationship paid dividends when Onwuzurike's recruitment came down to the wire on his decision.
In Onwuzurike's class was the nation's 198th-rated receiver Aaron Fuller from McKinney, Texas.
California recruit Nick Harris and Fuller were two of the lowest-rated three-star players inthe 2016 recruiting class -- afterthoughts. Harris and Fuller both developed into top players at their positions.
Harris and Fuller saw the field almost immediately and even played against Alabama in the 2016 Peach Bowl. Both of these Huskies were invited to the NFL Combine this week in Indianapolis.
Fuller signed with the Huskies as the 1,352nd player in the country and leaves as one of 357 invited the combine. He leaves the UW as an all-time top 10 receiver. He's seventh in career receptions with 159, just behind Paul Skansi, and is only the sixth Husky receiver to top 2,000 yards with 51 more than that, just ahead of Skansi.
Powers says winning games is not as important to high school recruits as having the opportunity to be developed. Given that Washington is one of three schools to send seven players to three consecutive NFL Combines, recruits are taking notice.
Under Lake, the Huskies are prepared for a long stay on the Texas recruiting trail, using the development message. They have 17 scholarship offers to Lone Star players, according to 247sports.com.
Lake used this approach to reel in Jalen McMillan, a high-ranking receiver from central California. The Huskies went toe-to-toe for him with so-called blue blood programs such as USC, Notre Dame and Oklahoma.
They pulled the top center in the country, Myles Murano, from USC's backyard; nationally ranked defensive back Jacobe Covington out of Arizona, and Colorado's No. 2 player in offensive lineman Roger Rosengarten.
Texas, however, remains a key recruiting destination for the Huskies, who could use more Lone Star talent to take the program up another notch.
Onwuzurike's return to Washington for his senior season could provide a side benefit -- it could the Huskies as a viable option in the "Allen footprint" of northeast Dallas.
Mike Martin, who will cover recruiting for Husky Maven/Sports Illustrated, next digs deeper into the UW's Texas recruiting for this year and beyond.
