Washington Huskies add O’Dea’s David Schwerzel to 2026 recruiting class
Washington Huskies add O’Dea’s David Schwerzel to 2026 recruiting class
Dec. 3, 2025 at 8:38 pm
O’Dea defensive lineman David Schwerzel stands on the field during practice on Tuesday, Sept. 2, 2025, in Seattle. (Nick Wagner / The Seattle Times)
By Andy Yamashita Seattle Times staff reporter
The Huskies made a very late addition to their 2026 class Wednesday evening, signing O’Dea defensive lineman David Schwerzel.
The 6-4, 260-pound defensive lineman from Seattle is a composite three-star prospect, the No. 4 player in Washington, the No. 75 defensive lineman and the No. 658 player, according to the composite rankings.
Schwerzel originally pledged to play for UCLA on June 19, but backed off his commitment after the Bruins fired coach DeShaun Foster on Sept. 14. He committed to Stanford Oct. 19, before flipping back to UCLA on Tuesday. However, Schwerzel flipped again Wednesday evening, choosing to sign for UW.
He’s the sixth local recruit to join the Huskies, and the fourth defensive tackle. UW now has 24 players signed as part of its 2026 class. Schwerzel also held offers from Cal, Louisville, Miami, Michigan, Michigan State, Notre Dame, Penn State, Vanderbilt and Washington State, among others.
Andy Yamashita: ayamashita@seattletimes .com. Andy Yamashita is a sports reporter at The Seattle Times, primarily covering Washington Huskies football.
Comments
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Thanks Taft!
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Looks like he needs to be locked in the gym for a season
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Another example that a verbal commitment doesn’t mean shit. I miss Peterman’s recruiting, he got out at the right time. This cluster f with the portal and NIL era sucks, I’ll go shout at the clouds now.
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The read seems he may have gotten caught in the shuffle in coaching changes at other schools and UW gave him a spot in a tough situation. Maybe it can score some points with the local football community which tends to produce 50% prospects with odd axes to grind with UW.
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Seeing Taylor Mayes with him in the photo, I had two thoughts. 1) O’Dea great and All American and former nfl player, which the kids will hold in high esteem. 2) “This is why you stay home” but coach your dad played for the UW and you dipped out?
*first time used the term dipped out as an old. For some reason, I chuckled reading the phrase in another thread although I’ve heard on tv. Most likely @WoolleyDoog
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It's been a bizarre recruitment all the way around. I'm pretty convinced that he's not that good. He stumbled somehow onto a high ranking by beating up on smaller kids as a youngin, and then just never really developed or put in the work. Basically, WDWHA.
I hope I'm wrong. -
Ha. I will use dipped out. I don't think it's truly a young phrase given I know it and I am not young.
I am almost always up for taking a local guy like this. As Joey pointed out though we watched O'Dea in-person against Woolley and he barely played defense and played TE and was split out. I'd rather see a guy of that stature ripping it up inside and wanting to mix it up, even if he plays on a dumbass Allstar team. The junior, Nonu, was.
He also came over after the handshakes and taunted the Woolley crowd, which was way bigger than the O'Dea crowd and travelled almost 2 hours to get there. This crowd taunting shit is getting pretty lame and old at all levels. It's one thing if you're an underdog going into a hostile environment and doing that but when you're a fake fucking paid off all star team fuck off. College too with the likes of Oregon and Ohio State.
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My guess is that they'll give him a redshirt year and his RS-Frosh year to see if he can stick at the DL. If not, at least the local program gave him a good opportunity to develop and prove he belongs.
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That kid does not have the physique of an ELITE athlete. He needs 2-3 years in the gym and eating a ton of beef.
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I'm big on taking flyers on local guys with potential as long as there isn't a demand for big NIL, which I assume isn't the case here. If it doesn't work the guy can be at Cal in a few years.
