By Kshell
The Washington Huskies recruiting class was looking like a disaster with 48 hours to go until the official signing day begins. Now Steve Sarkisian is looking like the man as his staff is closing the deal on some big time recruits. Sarkisian isn't a dumb individual was hearing the critism about his defense and recruiting. He made some changes on his staff to help out with both. The main hires were defensive coordinator Justin Wilcox and defensive line coach Tosh Lupoi who is regarded as the top recruiter on the west coast. Lupoi has lived up to his billing as the Huskies who were ranked 46th on scout.com just 27 hours ago are now ranked 19th in the country(were 9th in Pac-12 now 3rd) while the California Golden Bears who once had a top five recruiting class as of four days ago now sit at 42nd in the nation good for 9th in the conference.
In keeping up with last night the Huskies landed four-star Jordan Payton. Payton is the 15th rated wide receiver who like Shaq Thompson was a California Golden Bears commit at the Army All-American game. Like Thompson he followed Lupoi to Washington. Payton who played at Nick Montana's and Erik Kohler's old high school Oaks Christian High School in Westlake Village, California is your prototypical Sarkisian receiver as he is 6'2" 205 pounds. Payton chose the Huskies over Arizona State, Arkansas, Florida, Michigan, Notre Dame, Oklahoma, Penn State and of course California. Payton really enjoyed his visit up to Seattle a few weeks ago during the basketball game against Stanford the student body even started to chant to his name. Huskies sophomore soon to be junior quarterback Keith Price showed him around. Having Price back for two more years and with Jermaine Kearse and Devin Aguilar graduating being a wide receiver in this offense was an easy sell for Sarkisian. Payton will try to crack into the rotation that will already feature Kasen Williams(5 star), James Johnson(3 star), Kevin Smith(4 star) and Cody Bruns(4 star). Not mention the Huskies also landed a four-star wide receiver later on in the day. With Payton the Huskies have a terrific receiver from a high school they are starting to develope a nice pipeline with.
Sarkisian followed up the signing of Payton with Shane Brostek. Brostek is a three star recruit and 71st offensive guard in the country. He is from Hawaii Preparatory Academy in Kamuela, Hawaii. He is also the son of former Husky great Ber Brostek who also played in the NFL. Brostek is the fourth offensive lineman to commit to the Huskies this year. The Huskies beat out Colorado, UCLA, home state Hawaii and the Oregon Ducks for him. Brostek is a big body standing at 6'3" 300 pounds. He'll fit in with Jake Eldrenkamp of Bellevue High School. Eldrenkamp also a three star recruit is the 60th rated guard in the country. Eldrenkamp is 6'5" and weighs 295 pounds. He chose the Huskies over Yale, Brown, Utah, Purdue, Oregon State and cross state rival Washington State Cougars. Although Sarkisian missed on the two big in state offensive lineman he is doing a decent job of getting lineman in the program. The day wasn't over yet for Sarkisian who pulled off the hat trick of recruits a day before the big national signing day.
The final snag for Sarkisian was four-star wide receiver Jaydon Mickens who had originally committed to the USC Trojans. Mickens is the 46th rated wide receiver in the nation but stands only 5'9" 175 pounds. Mickens who is electric speed with the ball comes from Susan Miller Dorsey High School in Los Angeles, California. Mickens had offers from Arizona, Arizona State, California, Hawaii, SMU, UCLA and USC. For his hat announcment it was down to Washington, Washington State and Oklahoma State. He immediately faked putting on the Cougars hat then tossed it away before choosing the Huskies hat. For Keith Price his head coach just gained him two four-star wide receivers in the same day which has to make him happy. The Huskies will be loaded at the wide receiver spot in this upcoming season and beyond.
These last 24 hours has to feel special for Sarkisian as people including myself were doubting his recruiting ability. Now it appears Sarkisian will have his third straight ranked recruiting class something the Huskies haven't done since the early part of the 2000's which was also the last time they were a bowl team. The Huskies sitll have five scholarships left meaning Sarkisian still has some tricks up his sleeve to pull in some other big recruits who suddenly decommitt from a rival school. Last few years people have questioned Sarkisian's closing ability on recruits(This wasn't me actually try Dawgman and Jim Lambright) well I think he has proven that myth to be false. Whether it is actually Sarkisian or Lupoi doesn't matter. As head coach you receive the blame when things go wrong on your staff you also receive praise when things go right as well. For Sarkisian this was about as good of a 24 hour stretch any coach could have had in the offseason.
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