Jordan HammThere’s no mirage when Washington football coach Chris Petersen comes to the desert to recruit Arizona football players. Time and again, he has plucked uber-talented, sometimes under-recruited playmakers in the state. He did it at Boise State and he is definitely recruiting the state very well with the Washington Huskies.
The current rosters featured two of the top Arizona football players from a few years ago in Byron Murphy and Daniel Bridge-Gadd.
http://www.sports360az.com/2017/12/murphy-bridge-gadd-making-impact-washington-huskies/
In this current recruiting cycle, the Huskies were able to sign two Arizona playmakers in Centennial defensive back Dom Hampton and Salpointe Catholic offensive tackle Matteo Mele.
Hampton’s mix of size, he stands at 6-foot-2, 180 pounds, and speed make him a perfect fit for Washington’s system. As for Mele, who is a converted tight end, Petersen loves the athleticism that was developed playing a skill position before moving to the offensive line. Add that to a 6-foot-6, 277 pound frame, and that made Mele a very attractive prospect for the Huskies.
Why has Petersen and his staff, including valley-native Scott Huff, had so much success in Arizona?
Good players,” Petersen laughed. “A lot of good players down here. I think the coaching is really good down here. Football’s important to a lot of people down here. We love it. Our whole footprint, whether at Boise or Washington, was in the west here, and there’s just a lot of good players down here. We’ve had really good success with kids from Arizona coming to play for us.”
Odds are the purple and gold will be down here frequently over the next few years.
Future Recruiting Classes
The Huskies already have offers out to Mountain Pointe defensive tackle Matthew Pola-Mao (class of 2019) and class of 2020 stars in Salpointe Catholic running back Bijan Robinson and Saguaro defensive back Kelee Ringo.
