Sa'Vell Smalls, 6* 2020 BUCK, Seattle (Kennedy), WA (SIGNED)

KrunkJuice said:

https://twitter.com/BrandonHuffman/status/1177698169808805888

@DefinitelyNotCoker Scouting report on brothers?

Savvy says Florida State was his #2, interesting

Neighbor2972 said:

Savvy says Florida State was his #2, interesting

He seems like the type who would be well hydrated

It was nearly three years ago when Burien (Wash.) Kennedy Catholic five-star outside linebacker Sav'ell Smalls was offered by Washington.

Head coach Chris Petersen, prepping for the Peach Bowl as part of the College Football Playoff that December, extended an offer to Smalls back in December of 2016.

Almost three years later, on Friday afternoon, Smalls announced his commitment to the hometown Huskies.

A long road that saw Smalls leave Kennedy, go to Seattle (Wash.) Garfield, name a top 13 that had the Huskies in it, return to Kennedy, drop the Huskies from his list altogether, only to return the Huskies back to his list, culminated with his announcement on Friday.

After being presented with his 2020 Under All-American Game jersey at a ceremony at his school, Smalls announced in a hastily scheduled press conference in the football room that he would be heading to Washington.

Five months ago, there didn’t appear to be any chance the Huskies would keep the five-star in-state.

He dropped the Huskies from consideration on May 1st.

“I started to think that the best step for me would be to do that away from home,” said Smalls.

It was top-of-the-hour talk on local radio, a hot-button issue in the Seattle media- that Washington, which seemed to have all sorts of momentum with Smalls in the spring, would instead be eliminated unceremoniously by Smalls, and relatively early in the process.

Smalls kept a low profile for the next few months, getting back in front of coaches in mid-June when he worked out at the PLU Rise Showcase, with Washington head coach Chris Petersen and defensive coordinator Jimmy Lake, defensive line coach Ikaika Malloe and long time Smalls recruiter Pete Kwiatkowski there to watch him.

Also there was Brian Niedermeyer, the Tennessee assistant coach who was 247Sports’ Recruiter of the Year last year.

The Vols seemed to be a legitimate threat.

In fact, in July, Smalls went down to Knoxville and raved about his visit to Tennessee and also checked out Florida State, where his former Garfield teammate, Tre’shaun Harrison played. Willie Taggart had offered Smalls early in his tenure at Oregon and continued to recruit him to Florida State.

Locally, the Ducks were still a factor and Smalls remained adamant that Washington State would get a long look- the Cougs had told Smalls he could play some offense too.

And Alabama remained a threat, the Tide offering him two years ago, when Smalls was heading in to his sophomore campaign and continued to recruit him even with the departure of former DC Tosh Lupoi to the NFL.

There didn’t seem to be any reason for the Huskies to be optimistic, even as the Washington coaching staff quietly continued to recruit him.

But then came signs that maybe Smalls was best positioned to stay locally.

In August, Smalls updated his list, eliminated some schools and put one back on: Washington.

He came up with a top six- Alabama, Florida State, Oregon, Tennessee, Washington and Washington State.

But the Huskies loomed large- rallying from elimination three months before to now, back in the mix for him, with their inclusion in the final six.

"Washington got back in it because I made a pre-mature decision, as a teenager, even in a few months, my mind changes daily, there was a lot going on,” said Smalls. “But knowing the opportunities they provide and what they're doing, I had to look into it and give it a little more thought."

Still, it seemed like it would be a long way until Smalls made a decision- with Smalls aiming for a decision later in the fall.

Yet, the feeling of Washington continued to be overwhelming for Smalls and instead of dragging it out any longer, he knew it was time to come full circle.

So on Friday afternoon, after letting Husky coaches know earlier in the week, Smalls announced that he was going to be a Husky.

“Coach Pete (Chris Petersen), Coach PK, Coach Ikaika, all of them, they’re all great dudes and great coaches,” said Smalls.

“I’m going to put on for my city,” Smalls said.