Inside The Huskies

Redlands Safety Receives UW Offer After Camp Comes to Hometown

Jelani McLaughlin was a Husky Stadium visitor in mid-March.
Dan Raley|
Redlands Safety Receives UW Offer After Camp Comes to Hometown
Redlands Safety Receives UW Offer After Camp Comes to Hometown

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Washington Huskies

All sorts of top high school football talent descended this past weekend on Redlands, California, coming from out of state, all drawn to the University of Redlands football camp in order to their audition skills before a gathering of college coaches from selected schools.

Not Jelani McLaughlin.

He was already there, welcoming everyone to town. Redlands is home. He'll be leaving it someday soon though, taking his skills to a college football destination that proves overly persuasive in getting him to sign a letter of intent.

Maybe the University of Washington.

On Saturday, the Huskies offered a football scholarship to the 6-foot-1, 180-pound McLaughlin, a 3-star safety from Citrus Valley High School, giving him five offers overall. The others are Arizona, Colorado, Grambling State and Utah State.

McLaughlin is a highly active defensive back for Citrus Valley who's started for three seasons with his senior year yet to come.

As recruiters no doubt learned at the Redlands camp, he's fast and physical, using his 4.42-second speed in the 40-yard dash to cover a lot of territory.

Last fall, McLaughlin rang up 92 tackles with 3 interceptions in 11 outings for an 8-4 Citrus Valley Blackhawks team. In five games held in a pandemic-restricted 2020 season, he logged 55 tackles and another pick. In 2019 as a freshman starter, McLaughlin picked up another 53 tackles and another interception in eight games. 

Over his three seasons at Citrus Valley, this blitzing back has 18 tackles for loss.

A member of the Class of 2023, McLaughlin visited the UW in mid-March. Rather than just hold still for the typical Mary Poppins-like umbrella photos on the stadium floor or the crowd shots taken with Husky coaches lined up in front of an office wall, the safety posed for a striking panoramic photo of him in full glory.

He stood in front of Husky Stadium's south deck, arms outstretched, gold helmet at his feet.

More than almost everyone else in his situation, McLaughlin looked right at home. 

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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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