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Inside The Huskies

Huskies Tap St. John Bosco For Another Elite Recruit

Safety Isala Wily-Ava commits on Friday night to Jedd Fisch's UW staff.
Dan Raley|
Isala Wily-Ava has committed to the Huskies from St. John Bosco.
Isala Wily-Ava has committed to the Huskies from St. John Bosco. | Bosco

The football pipeline from St. John Bosco High School to the University of Washington might clog up every once in a while, but it never totally gets shut off.

The Huskies had the spigot wide open on Friday night when safety Isala Wily-Ava committed to Jedd Fisch's recruiters -- becoming the sixth 4-star prospect for them among 14 pledges during this recruiting cycle.

The 6-foot-2, 195-pound Wily-Ava likewise became the third player from St. John Bosco, all on defense, to commit during this recruiting cycle to Montlake, joining linebacker twins Ethan and Justin Coach.

With 30-plus offers, Wily-Ava appeared to pick the Huskies over Arizona State and Michigan,

All the UW really had to do was introduce him to safeties coach Taylor Mays and there was a good chance he would end up in Seattle.

"Taylor Mays was a great safety back in the day and made it the to the 'League' and I know he can help me get there too," Wily-Ava told Rivals.

Mays remains a legendary figure across Southern California after leaving the Northwest as this hulking 6-foot-3, 235-pound recruit who could run and becoming a three-time All-America safety for USC and then a pro player himself.

Again, this is the Los Angeles-area football powerhouse that previously sent cornerback Trent McDuffie to the UW on his way to becoming a first-round NFL draft pick for the Kansas City Chiefs and now the highest-paid corner in pro history for the Los Angeles Rams.

Following McDuffie to the UW in subsequent seasons were linebackers Deven Bryant and Khmori House, who both became starters before transferring out.

Bryant now plays linebacker for USC while House has gone from the UW to North Carolina to Arkansas, where he is a nickelback with the SEC school.

Finally, the Huskies have Bosco's place-kicker from last season, CJ Wallace, now competing as a freshman for the starting job in Montlake.

This past year, the UW kept the pressure on Wily-Ava with Mays involved every step of the way. The school would post a FaceTime call on social media from Taylor at practice telling him about all of his football possibilities.

"The special thing about you is you can play any position," Mays told Wily-Ava. "You can play corner, you can play safety, you can play linebacker. I'm excited. Take care of your body, man." 

Wily-Ava first drew widespread attention to himself as a sophomore for the 2024 Bosco team when he piled up 72 tackles and a school-record 7 interceptions, plus 4 pass break-ups and a sack.

This past football season, he had 40 tackles and an interception and a pass break-up as it appeared teams wisely avoided him.

With Wily-Ava under wraps, the Huskies now have eight defensive players among their 14 commits for defensive coordinator Ryan Walters as they look to build a strong stop unit for the future.

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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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