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UW Offers Southern California Safety With Propensity for Scoring

Kalen DeBoer's previous Fresno State staff made him an offer five months ago.
Dan Raley|
UW Offers Southern California Safety With Propensity for Scoring
UW Offers Southern California Safety With Propensity for Scoring

On a pleasant California night, with a mountain sunset in the background, Marquis Gallegos opened this past high school football season with an unforgettable play.

The 6-foot-1, 170-pound safety for Chaminade College Preparatory School, just a sophomore used his speed and considerable reach to cut in front of an Oaks Christian receiver in the end zone and intercept the ball. 

Gallegos was able to quickly gather himself, change direction, sidestep an opponent and streak up the sideline 99 yards for a touchdown.

"They were running the bubble all game," he told the Los Angeles Daily News. "I read it and took off."

It easily could have been a career play for him, but then he did it again in the third quarter. This time, he pilfered an Oaks Christian pass and raced 66 yards for an Eagles score.

Needing not much more than those two plays to become totally enamored with him, Kalen DeBoer's University of Washington recruiters this week offered Gallegos a scholarship.

It's good to get in early on a kid like this. 

In fact, DeBoer and his Fresno State staff first offered the Chaminade defensive back and Class of 2024 recruit a scholarship last August, two days following that double-interception TD showing against a high-quality opponent in Oaks Christian.

This tall, precocious defender finished the season with 4 interceptions, 72 tackles and 11 pass break-ups for 5-5 Chaminade, which is located in West Hills in the San Fernando Valley. He had 2 picks in a game against Crespi, too.

With his size advantage and his innate coverage instincts, his recruitment has just begun to take off with the Huskies, California and Colorado offering him, on top of Fresno State, with DeBoer's staff responsible for half of them.

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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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