Mason Kelly of the Seattle Times noted last week that the University of Washington football team has secured a major class of 2011 recruit: tight-end prospect Austin Seferian-Jenkins from Gig Harbor.
Austin Seferian-Jenkins, Gig Harbor's 6-foot-7, 260-pound tight end, announced Monday he will attend Washington.
"We're going to go get Rose Bowls and National Championships," Seferian-Jenkins. "I firmly believe that."
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Rated as the top tight end in the country by Rivals.com, Seferian-Jenkins caught 62 passes for 1,152 yards and 11 touchdowns as a junior.
It didn't take long for "Coug fan" Jim Moore of SeattlePI.com to start raining on the Seferian-Jenkins parade.
I have a question - if you're the No. 1 player at your position in all the land, I'm assuming you can go wherever you want to play football. And you choose the U Dub?
In his defense, I can see why he picked the Huskies - Seferian-Jenkins is boastful and delusional, which means he'll fit right in at Washington. Get this -- the kid announced his decision at Gig Harbor Yacht Club. Not his high school, the yacht club. And at that news conference, he talked about winning national championships and Rose Bowls. To which the Go 2 Guy says: As if.
(By the way, it's really pathetic to wish ill will on an 18-year-old so I won't lower my already ridiculous subterranean standards to do that, but if Seferian-Jenkins gives Ryan Rowland-Smith a run for the title of Seattle sports' most disappointing hyphen, I won't complain.)
Pathetic indeed.
Moore's Seattle PI colleague Mike Baldwin has a less ridiculous take.
But what happened at that press conference encapsulated what has happened over the 20-odd months since Steve Sarkisian took over the UW football program. When Austin Seferian-Jenkins, one of the top three tight end recruits in the nation, chose the Huskies over powerhouse Texas, it meant more than just the Huskies getting a talented future player. It meant a return to that exclusive college football club that is better known as the Major Players Lounge.
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For Sarkisian and his staff, the Seferian-Jenkins commitment may end up being a footnote in the history of the time they spend coaching at the stadium on Montlake. But right now, it's a sign of the growth that has occurred since they took over.
While Seferian-Jenkins might not be an instant program-changer, this feels like more than just a step in the right direction. As Herm Edwards might say, "Washington can build on this!!!!!!!!"