Inside The Huskies

Huskies Gain Commitment from Illinois Wide Receiver

Blaise LaVista comes off a 60-catch, 1,447-yard, 24-touchdown junior season.
Dan Raley|
Wide receiver Blaise LaVista has committed to the UW.
Wide receiver Blaise LaVista has committed to the UW. | Ohio State

The University of Washington football team continues to comb the Midwest for talent, which would seem only natural for a Big Ten entry, by gaining a Saturday commitment from Illinois wide receiver Blaise LaVista.

In this case, the Huskies pick up a speedy player with big numbers whose only Power 4 offer was from Montlake.

The 6-foot-2, 200-pound LaVista's other scholarship options, mostly from Mid-American Conference schools, are Akron, Central Michigan, Coastal Carolina, Kent State, Marshall, Toledo and Western Michigan, according to his recruiting profile. He received a UW offer on July 1.

Meantime, LaVista has changed high schools, transferring from 6A Libertyville, north of Chicago, to 8A state powerhouse Lincoln-Way East, which is south of the city. Seventy miles separate these schools.

He'll form a new passing combination with Lincoln-Way East quarterback Jonas Williams, who's committed to USC. Previously, he was on the receiving end of balls thrown by former Libertyville signal-caller Quinn Schambow, now at Oklahoma State.

LaVista comes off a 60-catch, 1,447-yard and 24-touchdown junior season for a 9-2 Libertyville team. As a sophomore, he caught 47 passes for 1,091 yards and 15 scores.

‘‘I came from someone that could sling the hell out of it, and I think they are very similar," he told the Chicago Sun-Times of Williams and Schambow. ‘‘ Luckily, me and Jonas have had long enough where timing isn’t really that much of a problem. And I think actual plays, getting that stuff down has been the big thing. It took maybe a month or two, and now we’re right there. We’re clicking.”

LaVista changed schools in January, with his father moving the two of them into the Lincoln-Way East school district, he told the Sun-Times. His new football team is coming off a 12-1 season and has lost just two regular-season games in the past seven years.

He is the Huskies' 19th committed player during the 2026 recruiting cycle and third wide receiver.

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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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