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Bruce Feldman: UW football Recruiting Rewind: Reggie Williams, Steve Emtman and flipping Budda
DerekJohnson
Administrator, Swaye's Wigwam Posts: 64,066 
By Bruce Feldman
Jun 13, 2023
32
Since 2000, three different coaches have won at least 11 games at Washington, which underscores the power of this job. In 1991, Don James won a national title. It’s a proud program with a great game-day atmosphere that has always been able to attract some of the best talent on the West Coast. And after Kalen DeBoer’s quick turnaround in his first season, expectations are sky high in Seattle again.
Washington’s 2023 class, the first full group under DeBoer, ranked No. 25 in the 247Sports Composite. The year before that, it was No. 96, by far the program’s lowest of the modern recruiting era. That class, which included only 10 signees, came on the heels of a 4-8 season and the disappointing end of Jimmy Lake’s brief tenure. For much of the past two decades, the Huskies have often been in the top 25 in the recruiting rankings — peaking at No. 16 (in three straight classes, from 2018 through 2020) — with the results on the field occasionally far outperforming those rankings.
Here’s a look at the highs and the not-so-highs of the program’s recruiting through the years.
Best recruit, pre-internet rankings: Napoleon Kaufman, RB
A track star who won the California 100-meter title and was a USA Today first-team prep All-American, Kaufman picked Washington over USC and Colorado, among others, in the Class of 1991.
“Everyone figured I would go to USC, but the school is right in the city and I wasn’t sure I would like that,” Kaufman, who played at Lompoc (Calif.) High School, told The Seattle Times in 1991. “I liked the facilities better at Washington, too. At USC, you play in the Coliseum, which is all right. But the Huskies Doghouse is really special. I had a very nice visit to Colorado, but the players stuck together so much I was concerned about the social life in Boulder. Washington was perfect, and it didn’t even rain.”
Kaufman ran for 4,106 yards in his four seasons — a school record at the time — and was a three-time All-Pac-10 selection. He was the No. 18 pick by the Raiders in the 1995 NFL Draft.
Best recruit, modern era: Reggie Williams, WR
Shaq Thompson, a five-star safety from Sacramento, Calif., who ranked as the No. 4 overall recruit in the Class of 2012, was a big get, as was four-star in-state star QB Jake Locker in 2006. But the pick is Williams, the local receiver who was expected to help Rick Neuheisel put the Huskies — who went 11-1 and ranked No. 3 in the country in 2000, the coach’s second season — over the top.
A 6-4, 215-pound wideout from Lakes High School in Lakewood, Wash., Williams was ranked No. 4 overall in the Class of 2001. As a receiver, he caught 16 touchdown passes as a senior and picked off eight passes while playing defensive back. In one game, he knocked three opponents out of action — due to a concussion, a separated shoulder and a broken collarbone. He also won the state’s Class 3A 100-meter title.
The youngest son of a former Army sergeant, Williams carried a 3.4 GPA, and he was recruited by Harvard and Princeton as well as every powerhouse in the sport. Neuheisel’s dogged recruiting — he once had a seaplane pick up Williams and fly him past the Space Needle en route to Neuheisel’s lakefront home — ultimately won over the big wide receiver who ended up picking the Huskies over Michigan, Notre Dame and UCLA.
Williams backed up the hype. In his Washington debut against Michigan, in front of 74,000 fans and a national TV audience, he caught four passes for 134 yards in a 23-18 win. He became a first-team All-American in 2003 and left UW as the No. 9 pick of the Jacksonville Jaguars in the 2004 NFL Draft.
Most influential recruit: Budda Baker, DB
The highest-ranked recruit in the Northwest in the Class of 2014, Baker flipped from Oregon to Washington on the eve of national signing day. He had committed to Oregon after taking an official visit to Eugene three months earlier. Baker was the first big recruiting win for new Huskies coach Chris Petersen and was a key piece on Washington’s 2016 College Football Playoff team.
“He practiced so hard,” Petersen recently told The Athletic. “He was just a missile at safety. He was like one speed all the time and so professional. He never took a shot on a teammate. He lived up to the hype, and then some.”
In three seasons at Washington, Baker had 199 tackles, including 13.5 for a loss, and intercepted five passes. He also helped Washington snap a 12-game losing streak to Oregon in 2016 with a 70-21 win that was sparked by a Baker interception on the game’s first play.
“Getting Budda really changed the entire complexion for Washington,” said Brandon Huffman, 247Sports’ national recruiting editor. “They’d seen a lot of in-state guys leave before that … but for (Petersen) to be able to reel Budda in, that really resonated nationally, but more importantly, it really resonated locally. For the next three years, Petersen got who he wanted in-state.”
Biggest bust: Mike Lustyk, DL
Lustyk is a name that comes up from old Huskies when talking about the program’s blue-chip disappointments. A defensive lineman in the same class as Steve Emtman, who became one of the best players in school history, Lustyk was the most sought-after player in the state in the Class of 1988. So much so that even though Emtman wanted to wear No. 74, the coaching staff gave the number to Lustyk, who turned down Nebraska to come to Washington. Emtman ended up wearing No. 90 and obviously became the far superior player. Lustyk struggled to get much playing time but did start a few games as a senior.
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Washington has had some amazing developmental stories, especially along the defensive line. Vita Vea and Greg Gaines, who was once committed to Petersen at Boise State, are two relatively recent examples. But Emtman has to be the guy here.
Part of a celebrated 1988 recruiting class that powered Washington to a national title, Emtman was joined in the group by Lincoln Kennedy, Mark Brunell, Mario Bailey and Dave Hoffmann, among others.
The Huskies really had to beat only Washington State to get Emtman, who grew up on a farm in Cheney, Wash. When he arrived in Seattle, he weighed about 250 pounds, but he hit the weight room hard and took packing on muscle very seriously and grew into a 6-foot-4, 290-pound force in the Pac-10.
Blessed with a relentless work ethic and elite explosiveness — he was a state champion discus thrower in high school — Emtman was an important get for then-UW assistant Gary Pinkel. As a redshirt freshman, Emtman was up to 270 pounds. By his junior season, he was causing nightmares for rival offenses as the Huskies went 10-2 and won their first Rose Bowl in almost a decade. The following year, in 1991, he totally dominated the Pac-10, winning the Outland Trophy and Lombardi Trophy after recording 20.5 tackles for the undefeated national champs. He finished No. 4 in the Heisman voting.
Emtman became the first overall pick of the Colts in the 1992 NFL Draft. He struggled to stay healthy, however, and played only six seasons.
The one who got away: J.T. Tuimoloau, DL
Losing local freak athlete Taylor Mays, son of former UW standout lineman Stafford Mays, in the Class of 2006 to USC stung. As did losing speedy two-way star Myles Jack, another local prospect, to UCLA in 2013. And Stanford has swooped in to grab local offensive linemen such as David DeCastro (2008) and Josh Garnett (2012).
But it was a couple of recent losses of home-grown studs to Ohio State that really hurt. Emeka Egbuka, a five-star prospect and the nation’s top wide receiver in the 2021 class, would’ve made Michael Penix Jr. and the Huskies 2022 offense that much more explosive and given their special teams a jolt. Tuimoloau, however, might be the biggest loss of them all. The 6-4, 270-pound edge rusher from Edgewood, Wash., was the nation’s No. 4 overall recruit in the Class of 2021 and emerged as a first-team All-Big Ten performer as a sophomore last fall. He would have been a huge addition to the UW defense.
“They’d already lost Emeka the month before, and they thought they were gonna get J.T.,” Huffman said. “They thought they’d made a good enough impression on him. It was a really a tough one, especially with seeing how their defense has been an issue for them the last couple of years.”
Of the state’s seven five-star recruits in the last 10 years, Washington landed only two out of high school. Both, quarterback Sam Huard and edge rusher Sav’ell Smalls, have transferred out.
I want to debate JTT as I think he's been pretty overrated thus far at Ohio State but don't have a slam dunk other choice. I would argue Trice has been better and I'd rather have Laiatu Late who was fucking on the team. I also don't remember Washington people thinking he was coming anywhere near the end. I thought it was mostly actually pulling for Ohio State instead of Oregon at that point.
He thought he could coach walk ons to a title and play 8 Db's. He really thought he'd be in the nfl after a year or two.