Pac-12 Recruiting: Washington’s Eight Commitments Show Power of Tosh Lupoi

Joe Nicholson-US PRESSWIRE

There’s plenty of smiling, fist pumping and woofing going on in Seattle today, as Steve Sarkisian, Tosh Lupoi and the Washington Huskies have picked up an astounding eight commitments towards the Class of 2013 today, per the Twitter feed of Scout’s Greg Biggins.

Surely, it’s a moment of strength for UW and arguably a ‘drop the gauntlet’ moment in terms of recruiting clout in relationship to the likes of USC, Stanford and Oregon.

The Huskies hosted a slew of recruits on campus as part of a summer recruiting camp, and to have nearly an entire playing field commit on the spot in Montlake is just incredible. For comparisons sake, USC hosted the Rivals Rising Star camp earlier this week but didn’t pick up a single verbal commitment, although offensive tackle Nico Falah is rumored to be a silent commit.

So who exactly pledged their name to the Huskies this morning? Receivers Rashead Johnson and Demorea Stringfellow, defensive linemen Daeshon Hall, Elijah Qualls and Andrew Basham, offensive tackle Poasi Moala, running back Lavon Coleman and linebacker Caleb Tucker.

Daeshon Hall decommitted from Texas yesterday, according to Brian Spaen at AutzenZoo.com, and was considering trips to Pac-12 powers USC and Oregon. With Lupoi serving as the defensive line coach at Washington, the stealing of a 3-Star commit from Texas to Washington is huge, when you consider that Hall’s hometown is just a three hour drive from Austin.

But it goes to show that anything can happen with Lupoi, as he can spin around recruits more than anyone, as seen with Shaq Thompson earlier this year.

Lupoi’s yet to put his hand in the USC cookie jar, but grabbing Elijah Qualls, who was tied to the Trojans as well, is big first step. Now, is he going to suddenly go after Kenny Bigelow and bring him up to Seattle? Probably not. But, his ability bond with recruits and hit home with high school kids is dangerous for the Pac-12, and more so now with Washington, considering that Sarkisian is a strong recruiter himself, and the UW athletic department is more motivated to win in football than Cal.

Lane Kiffin and Ed Orgeron are a dream team of recruiters, but with Sarkisian and Lupoi chugging along up north and scholarship limitations reducing the size of USC’s haul for the time being, it’ll be interesting to see how the recruiting landscape changes, if at all, in the next five years. Today, nonetheless, is a big step towards seeing some change.