Inside The Huskies

UW Turns Recruiting Attention to 330-pounder at Demond Williams' HS

As Huskies continue to build oversized lines for the future, they offer Dajohn Yarborough.
Dan Raley|
Dajohn Yarborough from Minnesota will play his senior high school season in Arizona.
Dajohn Yarborough from Minnesota will play his senior high school season in Arizona. | Minnesota

The University of Washington football team has a Basha High School graduate startng at quarterback in Demond Williams Jr.

The Huskies have an offer out to another player from that school in the Phoenix suburbs in Noah Roberts, pegged as one of the nation's top running backs for the Class of 2027.

And now, the UW has extended a scholarship proposal to one Dajohn Yarborough, a 6-foot-5, 330-pound junior offensive tackle origingally from St. Louis Park, Minnesota, who will enroll at this high school football powerhouse called Basha in the Arizona desert.

As he moves West specifically to increase his recruitment opportunities -- after being rated as Minnesota's top offensive lineman for 2027 -- the Huskies no doubt are telling him to keep coming to Montlake and don't stop.

On Sunday, the Huskies made their offer to this extra-large kid who played for a 4-6 team located west of Minneapolis in the suburbs.

Jedd Fisch's staff can tell Yarborough they not only have turned their offensive reins over to Basha's Demond Williams Jr., they have two players from Minnesota poised to play prominent roles on defense.

The latter would be senior edge rusher Zach Durfee from Dawson and sophomore defensive tackle Elinneus Davis from Moorhead.

Yarborough currently holds 18 scholarship offers and among his other Power 4 pursuers are Alabama, Florida State, Iowa State, Kansas State, Mississippi State, Missouri, Nebraska, North Carolina and Wisconsin.

As the Huskies try to build an offensive line bigger than most, Yarborough fits the mold with his 330-plus heft.

When the big kid gets settled in in Arizona, he'll learn that his new school is named for a philanthropist and the son of Lebanese immigrants named Eddie Basha, who once ran for Arizona governor and died in 2013 at 75.

He will hear how Williams was a four-year Basha starter who passed for 10,035 yards and 93 touchdowns and guided his team to a state championship before joining the Huskies and becoming the No. 1 QB at the tail end of last season.

Come to the University of Washington, Fisch's coaches will tell Yarborough, and he can block for Williams in 2027 when the lineman is a freshman and the quarterback likely is playing his final college football season.

Basha High could turn out to be very good for the Huskies in terms of football personnel over the long run.

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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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