Huskies recruit in new direction

SEATTLE – University of Washington football coach Steve Sarkisian sat down and exhaled at the opening of his Wednesday afternoon news conference.

With a slight grin, he gave an opening statement about the changing face of signing day, eventually adding that social media has made the final 48 hours of the process a whirlwind of misinformation.

“In my opinion, it’s an absolute mess,” he said Wednesday, “and we’ve got to try to figure it out.”

The Huskies finally had 25 names to call their own Wednesday. And if anything could be said for the latest class, it’s that one change the Huskies themselves could afford to make is to protect their borders.

One year after headlining a banner crop of recruits with several in-state stars, the Huskies relied mostly on outside talent to make up the Class of 2012. Only five members of this year’s class hail from Washington.

Safety Shaq Thompson of Sacramento, Calif., was the gem of this year’s entire class, while the Huskies also added three other defensive backs with size and coverage skills.

The latest class could be reliant on two key players, both of whom could have roles as freshmen. The prize of this year’s class is Thompson, who was ranked by Rivals.com as the fourth-best prospect in the entire country.

The other notable signing was Mercer Island (Wash.) quarterback Jeff Lindquist, who may well battle for the role of Keith Price’s primary backup as a freshman.

The Lindquist signing was also important because he was the only one of this state’s consensus top-five recruits who signed with UW.