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Inside The Huskies

UW Wins Hard Battle With Oregon For Puyallup Lineman

Gecova Doyal chooses to stay home and play for the Huskies.
Dan Raley|
Gecova Doyal was furiously pursued by Oregon and Washington.
Gecova Doyal was furiously pursued by Oregon and Washington. | Doyal

For almost two years now, the college football recruitment of Gecova Doyal has been like a tennis match.

Oregon would serve up a visit, a dinner or a game and the University of Washington immediately would rush the net and respond in kind.

Doyal was the tennis ball.

Yet on Wednesday, it was finally game, set and match for the Huskies, who received the commitment of the 4-star offensive lineman from Puyallup High School, some 40 miles south of Montlake.

The 6-foot-3, 285-pound Doyal became the UW's 23rd pledge for the Class of 2027 and its third offensive-line pick-up, joining Reis Russell from Highland Park, Colorado, and Tye Kennedy from Mesa, Arizona.

Thus ended the furious pursuit, one far more concentrated by both rivals than anyone could have anticipated, of a kid considered an elite power blocker.

"I'm glad that's over," Doyal said on the Rivals' recruiting show.

At times, it was Oregon coming through the door while Washington was exiting, or vice versa.

In procuring elite offensive linemen inside this state's borders, the Ducks previously had made significant inroads before things changed over the past year.

They landed 5-star Josh Conerly Jr. from Seattle's Rainier Beach High and 4-star David Iuli from Doyal's Puyallup High before having 5-star Kodi Greene, from Eastside Catholic and California's Mater Dei High, commit to the Ducks and flip late to the Huskies.

"The relationships I have with the coaching staff and the players I felt was better than I had with all the other schools," Doyal said.

Gecova Doyal casts a menacing figure on the football field
Gecova Doyal casts a menacing figure on the football field | Doyal

Also considering UCLA and Utah in this rigorous process, Doyal is considered a top five state recruit and a top 20 lineman nationally.

It came down to the Ducks and Huskies pulling out all stops to get his attention.

More recently, the UW hosted Doyal on his official visit on June 21 while the Ducks made their final pitch on June 7.

The Huskies made a big effort to recruit Gecova Doyal with line coach Michael Switzer.
The Huskies made a big effort to recruit Gecova Doyal with line coach Michael Switzer. | UW

Both schools had Doyal in for an unofficial visit during spring ball, a week apart in April. The Ducks also snuck in a dinner with him on May 1, according to his social media account.

The Huskies persuaded the Puyallup lineman to take part in Junior Day activities in early March while Oregon went the same route with him in February.

In January, UW offensive-line coach Michael Switzer and head coach Jedd Fisch traveled to Puyallup High to meet with Doyal and pose for a photo in the hallway, while Oregon reportedly arranged for two contacts with him that month.

During the 2025 season, Doyal attended the UW-Colorado State season opener while the Ducks reportedly brought him down to Eugene six weeks later for the Oct. 11 game with Indiana.

It all became moot after Doyal pulled on a purple hat and shirt and chose the UW.

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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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