Inside The Huskies

"African King Kong" Puts Washington In His Top 5

The Huskies made the top five for one of the best offensive tackles on the west coast
Roman Tomashoff|
"African King Kong" Puts Washington In His Top 5
"African King Kong" Puts Washington In His Top 5

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Washington Huskies

When four-star offensive tackle Manasse Itete released his top 10 list on February 15th, Washington had not yet offered the self-proclaimed "African King Kong." In fact, the Huskies didn't offer Itete until April 18th.

Then when the product of Central Catholic High School in Modesto, California released his top five on May 21st, the Huskies had found themselves back in the race. The nation's eighth-ranked offensive tackle by 247 Sports listed Washington alongside Utah, Oregon State, USC, and Florida State.

While it appears Florida State is the team to beat for Itete's services at the moment, he still hasn't set up official visits with all the schools in his top five. He's scheduled to visit Oregon State on June 9th, Utah on June 16th, and Florida State on June 23rd.

Offensive line coach Scott Huff has already secured the services of one four-star lineman from California in Paki Finau and now he's pushing to do it again. The Huskies have three official visits scheduled from offensive linemen including Finau, with the other two being a pair of three-stars, Palo Alto offensive tackle Ikinasio Tupou, and Clackmas guard Devin Brooks.

"Washington is a great program," Itete said in an interview with 247 Sports' Brandon Huffman. "Just seeing the things they did last year was pretty good for the first year of the coaching staff and I do believe they will keep growing and doing good things. They also had a plan for me for the next couple years and also the culture they have is just different."

The coaching staff is certainly going to push very hard to get Itete back on campus. His only other visit to Washington was for a Junior Day the school hosted in January, so getting him to take an official visit could go a long way in his recruitment.

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Roman Tomashoff
ROMAN TOMASHOFF

I've followed the Huskies for my entire life, and to be in a position where I get to cover them full-time is nothing short of an honor. After graduating from Lasell University in 2019, I moved to Seattle to pursue my dream of working in sports media. While writing for the Husky Haul, I also covered local sports for the Everett Daily Herald before the COVID-19 pandemic. After being hired by Realdawg.com in February of 2021, I also transitioned into doing a lot of entertainment writing, as I work on a variety of magazines as a contributing writer for Centennial Media, and have also contributed to Emmy Magazine, as well as Walt Disney Television Studios. 

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