Huskies offer Texas Receiver with State of Washington Connection
Wide receiver Ashton Cozart is a hard one to keep up with and that extends well past his ability to race down a high school football field and haul in a pass thrown deep to him.
This past season, the 4-star recruit played for Marcus High School in Flower Mound, Texas. No, that's not a made-up place; it actually has a 12-acre mound in the center of town and can be found northwest of Dallas.
In 2020, Cozart competed for Richland High in the tiny Texas truck stop of a town by the same name, which turns up southeast of Dallas.
Three years ago, Cozart played two time zones away at Kennedy Catholic High in Burien, Washington, while living well down the road in Puyallup. He caught balls as a freshman from Sam Huard and ran routes alongside Jabez Tinae and Lonyatta Alexander Jr., all eventual Division I players.
Kalen DeBoer's University of Washington recruiters know where he is and where he's been, and on Tuesday they extended him a scholarship offer, giving the highly regarded prospect 28 in all.
On social media, the 6-foot-3, 180-pound Cozart, from the class of 2023, noted how he has now come full circle with his Northwest roots. He was born in Texas, grew up in his younger years in Washington state and moved back to the Lone Star state.
"This is where it all started me so this hits different," he said of his Husky offer in a tweet.
Big and fast, Cozart likewise has offers from Alabama, Texas, Texas A&M, TCU, Miami, Oklahoma and Florida on a long list. A tall guy who can cover the 100-meter dash in 10.74 seconds will never have any shortage of suitors.
As a junior for the Marcus Marauders, he used all of his attributes to catch 36 passes for 680 yards and 11 touchdowns.
While starting out at Kennedy High, Cozart, an inch shorter and 10 pounds lighter, was described as a hidden gem for the Northwest, though he made a Freshman450 listing.
“I am extremely honored to be recognized as one of the nation’s top players in the Class of 2023 and it reminds me that I am on the right track of accomplishing my goals," he told Youth1 at the time. “I would say the game knows I have not cheated the grind."
He mentioned at the time how he modeled his game after then-Atlanta Falcons standout Julio Jones because Jones was a tall receiver like him who could do it all.
Cozart noted back then how he would be training locally at Ford Sports Performance in Bellevue, Washington, and at the Russell Wilson Quarterback Academy, and possibly attending football camps at the UW, Eastern Washington, Pacific Lutheran, Central Washington and California.
Ashton Cozart played at Kennedy Catholic in 2019 before moving back to Texas.
And, of course, he felt that playing at Kennedy High alongside Huard and Tinae, both Huskies now, and Alexander, who recently left Arizona State and might be headed home to the UW, greatly helped his game.
“I’m progressing really well as a receiver this year at Kennedy," Cozart said in 2019. "Being a freshman on varsity with the No. 1 team in the state stacked with multiple D-I receivers pushes me to be at my best every practice.”
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