Inside The Huskies

Tar Heels, Huskies Show Mutual Interest in California Corner

North Carolina commit does home visit with Jedd Fisch's staff.

Dan Raley

Recruit Justin Lewis and UW secondary coach John Richardson pose on a visit.
Recruit Justin Lewis and UW secondary coach John Richardson pose on a visit. / Lewis

While nothing regarding college football recruiting, tampering, roster raiding or whatever you want to call it these day should surprise or outrage anyone, the dynamic between the University of Washington and North Carolina programs has become an interesting one.

In the six weeks since Bill Belichick accepted the Tar Heels coaching job, his staff has signed or received commitments from four former Husky players in the transfer portal in linebacker Khmori House, cornerback Thaddeus Dixon, safety Peyton Waters and wide receiver Jason Robinson Jr., plus Belichick has coaxed his son Steve and defensive analyst Armond Hawkins, ex-UW coaches, to join him in Chapel Hill.

Meantime, Husky coach Jedd Fisch, who once worked for Bill Belichick and only showers praise on him as a legendary coach, publicly appears to be good with all of this player personnel and coaching manpower headed east.

A fair question is when is any of this program-hopping considered an intrusion on what Fisch is trying to accomplish in Montlake and would he dare ever show his displeasure to the great one, whom he considers a mentor?

Enter Justin Lewis to the mix.

This past week, the Huskies, with secondary coach John Richardson doing the honors, conducted a home visit with the 6-foot-2, 175-pound cornerback from Rancho Cucamonga, California, considered a 3-star prospect by the recruiting services.

It should be noted that Lewis committed to North Carolina before the Huskies came for a visit.

So it's a new tug of war over a shared football interest for the Tar Heels and the Huskies.

Here's wondering to how long the Fisch-Belichick relationship might evolve if the UW was able to flip Lewis, who received an offer from the Huskies last June 15?

So far it's been Belichick taking resources out of Seattle to enrich his program-building efforts at North Carolina, without any intrusions or return volleys from the UW so far.

Lewis appears talented enough to be a projected difference-maker at the college level while also holding scholarship offers from Arizona, Colorado, Louisville, Miami, Nebraska, SMU and Syracuse.

Chances are there wouldn't be any negativity arise between the two, with Fisch never registering much concern when someone moves on, though House once was thought to be a cornerstone of his Husky defense this coming season.

It's a situation worth keeping an eye on.

For 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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