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Inside The Huskies

No Desert Mirage, Huskies Picked To Land 5-Star Arizona Edge

Jalanie George from Desert Edge High School may follow a pair of teammates to Montlake.
Dan Raley|
Jalanie George, left, is a 5-star edge rusher who may end up at the UW.
Jalanie George, left, is a 5-star edge rusher who may end up at the UW. | George

University of Washington football recruiters don't fear getting stranded in the desert. In fact, they relish it.

They just might come in from the heat with a quarterback, a wide receiver or maybe an edge rusher in tow.

Since coming to Montlake from the University of Arizona, coach Jedd Fisch has made a point of sending his talent sleuths right back to the land of cactus, mesas and buttes to find players to help fill out his roster.

Fisch's staff currently has five Arizona-produced players pulling on UW uniforms and another six committed to the program for the class of 2027 and arriving next year.

And now, according to the recruiting experts, the Huskies stand to secure a commitment from their most decorated player from Arizona yet in 5-star edge rusher Jalanie George from the Class of 2028.

Brandon Huffman and Steve Wiltfong of Rivals this week predicted the 6-foot-5, 240-pound George will pick Washington over Florida, Miami, Mississippi and Wisconsin.

While nothing is etched in stone anymore across the college game, with players committing, flipping and transferring nonstop, it wouldn't be a big surprise if George ends up at the UW in 2028 for one main reason.

Two of his Desert Edge High School teammates in in the Phoenix suburb of Goodyear are 4-star quarterback Blake Roskopf and 4-star wide receiver Zerek Sidney, already committed to the Huskies for 2027. They would give the highly decorated pass rusher a comfort zone in place should he end up there.

Predictions aside, George doesn't have to make a public decision any time soon.

He's coming off his sophomore season in which the Scorpions won 11 of 12 games, losing only to Desert Mountain 13-10 in the 5A playoffs. He finished with 54 tackles, including 16 tackles for loss and 6.5 sacks.

In 2024, he was a freshman and a major contributor for a 10-4 Desert Edge team that made a successful run to win the state championship. He had 63 tackles, including 11 TFLs and 5 sacks, for a 10-4 team.

A lot can happen between now and Geoge's public commitment and subsequently handing over the necessary paperwork.

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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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