'Special Bond' Drew 3-Star QB Kollock to Washington
Before Jackson Kollock and his parents boarded their flight home after watching Washington beat Oregon two weeks ago, they all were in agreement where he would play his college football.
“Going up there, they made the decision so easy,” Kollock said after choosing the Huskies this week. “I loved it. I absolutely loved it more than any school I’ve been to. It’s special up there.”
Kollock, a 6-foot-4, 215-pound quarterback from Laguna Beach High School in Southern California and the class of 2025, made his first trip to Husky Stadium for the marquee game and knew it was a perfect fit when he saw droves of UW fans rushing the field following the 36-33 victory.
Offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb and tight-ends coach Nick Sheridan built a strong relationship with him after offering a scholarship to the 3-star signal-caller on May 10. Once UW extended that offer to Kollock, a number of schools quickly followed, including Colorado and Minnesota. Yet his connections to Montlake were in place.
“My favorite thing about Grubb is he loves his players,” the quarterback said. “He’s going to love, develop you. He’s going to do his part in getting you to where you want to go and helping you achieve your goals. He’s not only a great coach, but he’s a great dude. It’s a special bond up there that I haven’t seen anywhere else.”
Coming off a sophomore season in which Kollock completed 66 percent of his pass attempts and compiled 2,202 yards passing with 32 touchdowns, several schools had him on campus — among them Miami, Northwestern, Oregon, TCU, Texas and UCLA — but did not make an offer. They might reconsider now.
As Grubb has said before, he considers an effective passer to be the most important trait for a quarterback, which fits Kollock. However, the signing of freshman Austin Mack in the 2024 class indicated the Huskies’ offensive play-caller also wants his future quarterbacks to be a threat as a runner, too.
Between his sophomore and junior seasons, Kollock has more than doubled his rushing yards to 311 while throwing six more touchdowns and again limiting his interceptions to three.
In nine games this season for Laguna Beach, he’s thrown for 2,564 yards and 38 touchdowns and rushed for six scores to lead the Breakers to an 8-1 record.
Amazingly, a former Oregon quarterback has helped him become a more complete player. Dakota Prukop, who currently plays for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in the Canadian Football League, has been training Kollock since he was in eighth grade at The Togethership, a middle school for athletes in Southern California.
Prukop saw at an early age that Kollock had the potential to be a special quarterback with his tall stature and natural athleticism.
“He was so happy for me,” Kollock said, when asked about the former Duck signal-caller’s reaction to him choosing the UW. “He knows it’s one of the best programs that’s out right now, if not the best. He was nothing but happy for me.”
Go to si.com/college/washington to read the latest Inside the Huskies stories — as soon as they’re published.
Not all stories are posted on the fan sites.
Find Inside the Huskies on Facebook by searching: Inside Huskies/FanNation at SI.com or https://www.facebook.com/dan.raley.12
Follow Lars Hanson of Inside the Huskies on Twitter: @LarsHanson or @UWFanNation
Have a question? Message me on Twitter!