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Inside The Huskies

Huskies Offer 5-Star Offensive Lineman From Detroit

Antijuan Wilkes currently holds 41 scholarship proposals and counting.
Dan Raley|
Antijuan Wilkes is a 5-star tackle from Michigan now with a UW offer.
Antijuan Wilkes is a 5-star tackle from Michigan now with a UW offer. | Wilkes

For the University of Washington football team, trying to beat Michigan in the Big House or Husky Stadium is one thing.

Trying to steal a 5-star offensive lineman out from under the Wolverines' footprint is quite another.

Yet that's what the Huskies will attempt to do after extending a scholarship offer on Friday to 6-foot-7, 280-pound Antijuan Dishun Wilkes Jr. from Detroit's Cass Tech High School.

Wilkes is considered the No. 1 player in the state of Michigan for 2028, the No. 1 tackle in his class nationally and the No. 13 player overall.

If nothing else, the Huskies will know they got their offer in to go with the 40 others and counting that Wilkes has in hand.

Two months ago, this blue-chip blocker pared his list down to a dozen schools: Alabama, Florida, Georgia, LSU, Miami, Michigan, Michigan State, Missouri, Ohio State, Oregon, Tennessee and Texas A&M.

A month ago, he shortened his chioces to Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Miami, Missouri and Ohio State.

Of course, both Michigan schools are still pursuing him hard.

Wilkes has big ambitions, if not slightly unrealistic dreams,, because he's so motivated to excel.

"I want to win the Heisman if I could," he told Rivals. "That's how great I want to be."

The Huskies pulled a pair of defensive tackles out of Detroit back in 2022 when they signed twins Jayvon and Armon Parker from Fordson High School. They weren't heavily recruited, but Kalen DeBoer's staff wanted them, with recruiting coordinator Courtney Morgan privy to their talents from his time spent in a smilar role at Michigan.

The Parkers, however, were seemingly injured much of the time while in Montlake and never able to become starters or even play together more than once -- in last season's game at Michigan, with friends and family watching, they drew a handful of plays together.

The siblings have since left the UW program over the winter and transferred to Maryland, hoping to finish their college careers strong.

Meantime, Wilkes still is receiving offers nonstop and may have to readdress his recruitment all over again.

While it seems like a long shot to try and steer this kid to Seattle, the Huskies deserve some credit for not thinking it's impossible.

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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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