Washington's 2019 recruiting class: Hits and misses, attrition and opportunity
The Huskies recruited at a higher level in 2019 than any other year in the modern era. What does the class look like four years later?
Though Chris Petersen’s Washington tenure ended with three consecutive recruiting classes ranked No. 16 nationally, the 2019 class seemed like a particularly game-changing group.
In fact, some yahoo at The Athletic wrote that “when all is said and done, the Huskies’ 2019 recruiting class could be remembered as one of the best — and most important — to come through Montlake in a long time.”
Why did I think that? Mostly because the Huskies loaded up with four defensive tackles — notoriously the most difficult position to recruit out west — including arguably the top two d-linemen in the region. The Huskies also signed four inside linebackers, a position where they sorely lacked bodies, including two blue-chippers.
Plus, they just signed a bunch of players across the board whom a bunch of other big programs badly wanted. Washington landed 15 blue-chip recruits in this class — unmatched by any Huskies team in the modern era — and nine of the top-50 prospects in California, more than even USC and Oregon. Aside from not signing a tight end — and missing on a couple highly rated receivers — it was hard to imagine how the class could have been much better.
Where does it rank after four college seasons?
I have a feeling it will fare pretty well in ex-colleague Max Olson’s annual re-rank (which I expect to see in the next couple months), though perhaps not in the way I might have envisioned four years ago. This group turned out to be a bit lighter on star power than you could have assumed when they signed, but still has produced a number of starter-caliber players (and could be responsible for maybe eight or so UW starters in 2023).
Some quick facts about the class …