Huskies land heavily in JC recruiting ranks

Washington's recent history recruiting junior-college players calls to mind the old joke about needing help in the worst way.

That's often what the Huskies have gotten when they have called on the junior-college ranks for immediate help on the gridiron — the worst kind of help.

But it's usually been a fairly minimal risk, such as a couple of players in a 25-man class, and if the JC players didn't pan out, it wasn't a huge disaster.

This year, though, the stakes are higher than normal as the Huskies will likely have at least six junior-college players in the recruiting class that they will officially unveil today. Three signed in December and will be on campus for spring football.

The reasons for the increase in JC players is obvious — the Huskies have gone 3-19 the last two years, and coach Tyrone Willingham now has a better feel for areas that need immediate attention after a full season on the sideline.

Four of the six JC transfers play at positions where the Huskies are especially thin — the offensive line and the secondary. The others are a receiver, signed in the wake of Craig Chambers' transfer, and a linebacker.

"It's just a sign of the times," said Chris Fetters, the Western recruiting analyst for Scout.com. "The donors, the fans, everybody else wants the instant turnaround."

Though Willingham had little experience recruiting JC players at Stanford and Notre Dame — he did sign at least two while coach of the Cardinal — he has said he has no problem dipping into the junior-college ranks, "as long as it's the right player."

It's not an uncommon strategy. Several other Pac-10 schools, notably Oregon State and Washington State, have relied on JC players for years. And California went heavy into the junior-college ranks for a couple of seasons after Jeff Tedford took over in the wake of a 1-10 record in 2001.

But it's not something Washington has done much in the past.

Washington has had sporadic success, at best, with JC players.

Of the 25 signed in that 10-year period, just eight earned regular starting roles, though two others still could — cornerback Josh Okoebor (2004) and receiver Marlon Wood (2005).

Six never played a down for the Huskies, four never became eligible and three others saw little, if any, meaningful action.

Only one earned all-conference recognition — running back Corey Dillon (1996), who in some ways hardly counts since he was recruited by UW coaches for years and went the JC way solely because of academics.

Of the other starters, two had a meaningful role on the 2000 Rose Bowl team — offensive tackle Wes Call and defensive tackle Marcus Roberson.

While recruiting at any level is dicey, JC players are almost always called on to fill key holes immediately — as opposed to high-school players who, it's usually assumed, will need a few years — which can make the lack of success that much more damaging.

Especially in the last few years, the fact that several JC players didn't work out as hoped — namely, offensive lineman Francisco Tipoti and cornerbacks Qwenton Freeman and Chris Handy — has proved costly.

The Huskies for years shied away from junior colleges because they preferred to recruit high-school players and redshirt them — the traditional way of building a program. Willingham has admitted there is a risk in recruiting too many JC players who will be gone in two or three years, creating holes in the roster down the road. Schools can sometimes get caught trying to fill those holes with more JC players, creating a perpetual cycle of turning the roster over quickly.

Huskies coaches have also said they often had difficulty getting a lot of JC players admitted to school. But Fetters said the pool of JC players is growing every year, giving even those schools that want to be selective plenty to choose from.

California proved that in 2003 when it signed nine JC players, many of whom played a key role in the Bears' 10-2 season in 2004, such as quarterback Aaron Rodgers, running back J.J. Arrington and defensive end Ryan Riddle.