Lakes' talented senior class shows state's high-school talent on rise

Hot bed?

Not quite. But the state of Washington is definitely warming up as a recruiting source for high-school football talent. Especially this year.

"It's by far the deepest and most talented [class] since I moved up here in 2004," said Brandon Huffman, West recruiting manager for scout.com/">Scout.com, an Internet recruiting service. "You've got linemen, you've got skill position guys, you've got linebackers. It's one of those years where you've got pretty much elite talent at pretty much every position but running back.

"You don't see very many years like that, outside of California, where you've got star power at just about every position."

The brightest national star is Skyline's Jake Heaps, the top-rated quarterback in the country. He is one of at least 17 high-school seniors in the state who has made an oral commitment to play Division I football, choosing Brigham Young over Washington. Another 10 to 15 seniors could ultimately sign with D-I schools as well.

And next year's class has star power, too, with wide receiver Kasen Williams of Skyline and tight end Austin Seferian-Jenkins of Gig Harbor both potential No. 1's nationally at their position.

"You're looking at three elite prospects in a two-year span," Huffman said. "Even California hasn't had the No. 1 player in the West the last three years in a row. When Washington's putting themselves in that category, that's impressive. But what stands out the most is the depth at every position."

Steve Sarkisian said he has been impressed with the talent in the state since he took over as coach at Washington.

"I've had an opportunity to get around and meet a lot of the coaches in-state and they are very good coaches who've got good schemes, good systems and in turn there is a lot of talent in the state," he said.

Allan Wallace, Scout.com's national coordinator and publisher of SuperPrep magazine, said class is much improved from last year.

"Last year was a down year," he said. "This year it stands out because it's a balanced group of kids here. There are some guys at different positions who are very well-regarded."

No where is that more evident than at Lakes of suburban Tacoma, where Division I talent is spread across the field. In all nine players have Division I scholarship offers.

Sione Potoa'e (OT/DT), Jamaal Kearse (WR/FS) and Darius Waters (TE/DE) all have committed to Washington and are highly regarded. The other six seniors with D-I offers are Willis Wilson (RB/CB), John Goldwire (WR/LB), Teddy Cotton (RB), Dee Maggitt (CB), Jordan Rivera (FB/LB) and Jordan Patterson (LB).

Dave Miller, in his 10th year as coach at Lakes and 25th year overall, has never seen anything like it. Two seasons ago, he had 11 players earn college scholarships, led by Kavario Middleton (UW), but most wound up at smaller schools.

"This is the most Division I guys we've had," Miller said.

Plus, Lakes sophomore Blue Kearney (WR/FS) already has an offer from Washington and Miller believes sophomore quarterback Cedric Dozier will develop into a top recruit as well.

But, as Miller points out, it takes more than D-I talent to win state championships.

"The physical potential is there, but I think they prove daily they're high-school kids and it's just potential," he said. "They're 17-year-old high-school kids that colleges think will play with them some day. Some will, some won't. ... Recruiting is risky at best. Of the nine or 10 [prospects] we have, if I had to bet my paycheck, probably three or four I would tell you absolutely will be stars and do well and probably another three or four that might be able to make it and then there's a couple I probably wouldn't count on to make it through the first year or two."

Some of the recruiting analysts equate this recruiting class with the one Middleton led in 2008, which included Bellevue's David DeCastro (Stanford) and Rainier Beach's Alameda Ta'amu (Washington).

"That was a real top-heavy group," Wallace said.

He says the 2006 class, with O'Dea's Taylor Mays (USC), Bellevue's Steve Schilling (Michigan) and Ferndale's Jake Locker (Washington), was probably the state's best in recent years for marquee players.

While recruiting analysts and coaches say talent can be cyclical, the state of Washington is becoming more prominent.

"Schools are taking more notice of guys in the Northwest," Chris Fetters of Scout.com said.

He said with Sarkisian at Washington, it will be more difficult for other programs to lure the top talent away.

"I would be shocked if a lot of national guys are going to be surrendered easily," Fetters said.

Sarkisian considers signing local players key to the Huskies' success, as it was during their championship seasons under Don James.

"We've got good players here and we need them to stay home," he said.

Sandy Ringer: 206-718-1512 or sringer@seattletimes.com