Inside The Huskies

Looking at UW Pursuit of Seemingly High-Priced Texas Recruit

This 4-star safety from Houston has a social-media handle that doesn't try to be subtle.

Dan Raley

Jedd Fisch and Chase Calicut at UW Junior Day on March 8.
Jedd Fisch and Chase Calicut at UW Junior Day on March 8. / UW

His social media handle is Chasedahbag, which in these college football days of the $4 million payout demand, isn't very subtle at all.

No matter how you look at it, Chase Calicut likely will be a very expensive recruit to sign and he doesn't try to hide it.

The question that immediately comes to mind is who will be the highest bidder for the 6-foot-3, 195-pound safety from Houston's North Shore High School, a 4-star prospect.

Rivals suggests that Texas, Michigan and Washington currently are the leaders for Calicut, with the Longhorns using their geographical proximity and seemingly endless cash reserves to make maybe the strongest play for this defensive back.

As for the UW, Calicut received an offer on Jan. 28 and five weeks later visited Montlake with his mother in tow for Junior Day on March 8. So he's seen the place, met with Jedd Fisch and others, and maybe even toured the campus vault.

Meantime, the recruiting sites keep wildly rearranging his options, suggesting he originally was considering just Michigan, Oregon and Texas, then LSU, Michigan, Mississippi, Texas and the UW, back down to Michigan and Texas, and now it's a select three with the Huskies back in the mix.

So much for insider information.

While top-level recruits have every right to negotiate for some very high numbers in a system with no restrictions whatsoever, schools have to weigh what they can afford and be careful they don't blow up their locker rooms by overpaying at the expense of others.

Looking at someone's footwork on film is one thing, but a school such as the UW also has to determine whether a recruit is properly motivated to hold up his end of the bargain and play football at a championship level.

That he's not too busy just chasing the bag.

To get the latest UW football and basketball news, go to si.com/college/washington

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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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