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Inside The Huskies

UW Finds Northwest Transplant in Arizona, Makes Scholarship Offer

Wide receiver recruit Rico Blassingame from the Phoenix area was born in Washington state.
Dan Raley|
UW Finds Northwest Transplant in Arizona, Makes Scholarship Offer
UW Finds Northwest Transplant in Arizona, Makes Scholarship Offer

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Washington Huskies

A wide receiver from the Phoenix area, Rico Blassingame received a University of Washington football scholarship offer this week. 

The Huskies, however, didn't have to give him the full-blown this-is-who-we-are-and-what-we're-all-about recruiting treatment.

A Washington native before moving to Arizona, Blassingame called the UW his dream school on social media while revealing the opportunity.

Finishing up his freshman year at Tolleson Union High School, the 6-foot-3, 180-pound Blassingame could turn out to be a dream athlete at the college level, with the way things have gone for him so far — and not just on the football field. 

Blassingame, who has a 6-foot-7 wing span, also is a point guard for the Tolleson Union basketball team, averaging 12.3 points, 5 assists and 1.3 assists this past winter per outing for a 9-17 team. 

There's footage of him dribbling through an opposing defense and slamming the ball down.

Football-wise, Blassingame got a taste of the varsity as a ninth-grader, getting on the field for a 3-7 Wolverines team long enough to catch 3 passes for 49 yards, with one of his receptions going for 38 yards. 

At such a young age, he's got plenty of size and athleticism to be a special talent in either sport. 

The UW apparently thinks so, as does Arizona, Arizona State, UNLV and Colorado State, all offering him for football off his camp performances before his high school football career really gets started.

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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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