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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

CdA’s Colson Yankoff ready for quarterback competition when he arrives at UW

Watch out for Coeur d’Alene  once quarterback Colson Yankoff returns from injury. (Kathy Plonka / The Spokesman-Review)
By Adam Jude Seattle Times

They met for the first time last month at the Elite 11 quarterback camp in Los Angeles. Jacob Sirmon and Colson Yankoff were together this month during a summer camp at Husky Stadium, throwing passes and posing for pictures with fellow classmates from Washington’s 2018 recruiting class.

“He’s a good guy for sure. I like him a lot,” Yankoff said of his early impressions of Sirmon.

For the Huskies, there’s certainly much to like about how their 2018 class is shaping up, and Sirmon and Yankoff are two of the biggest reasons why.

Sirmon, entering his senior season as the quarterback at Bothell High, and Yankoff, entering his senior season as the quarterback at Coeur d’Alene High, are each ranked among the nation’s top 100 recruits by the various recruiting services.

Having two quarterbacks in one recruiting class is rare enough. Having two who are so highly regarded hasn’t happened anywhere in more than a decade.

According to ESPN, Florida in 2007 was the last program to sign two top 100 quarterbacks, John Brantley and Cam Newton, in the same class. (Newton was later dismissed from the Gators program and eventually transferred to Auburn, where he led the Tigers to a national championship victory over Oregon.)

The 2018 class will be Chris Petersen’s fifth at UW, and his first with two quarterbacks. The Huskies haven’t signed two quarterbacks in the same class since 2012, when Jeff Lindquist (158) and Cyler Miles (224) were both ranked among Scout’s top 300 recruits.

Both Yankoff and Sirmon have indicated they plan to sign with the Huskies during the new early signing period in December and enroll in classes at UW in January.

“I like their style of offense; I like that they use a lot of guys in a lot of different ways,” Yankoff said. “But my favorite thing about those coaches is the kind of people they are. Every coach that’s recruiting you gives you lip service, right? They’ll tell you this and that and how great their players are and what great guys they are. At least in my experiences, (UW coaches) are the only, or one of the few, coaching staffs who lived up to that 100 percent. When I got on campus, all of the players were just what they said they were – solid kids who care a lot.

“Coach Pete has all his talks and messages that he believes in, and when I got there I saw that. I could see that these kids were living that and that it was something they were very serious about. It’s something I appreciate a lot and makes me think very highly of them.”

By the time Yankoff made his commitment to UW in March, Sirmon had already been committed to the Huskies for some 15 months.

“I’m not going to say (Sirmon’s commitment) wasn’t a consideration. Of course it’s something I thought about,” Yankoff said. “It’s something (UW) coaches talked to me about, and once I got over that they said, ‘Look, we want you to come play for us.’ And I felt the same way, so I didn’t feel there was a need to worry about another quarterback.

“The way I see it, at least, is there’s going to be competition wherever I go. Whether it’s a guy older than me, a guy coming in who’s younger than me, or a guy the same age. I figure, what difference does it really make if we’re in the same class?”

The Huskies recently got another commitment from a top 100 QB – this from one of the Class of 2019’s top recruits, Dylan Morris of Graham-Kapowsin High.

Yankoff tore the meniscus in his knee during track and field season and had surgery in May; he just got off crutches earlier this month and was only able to do some light throwing at Washington’s football camp earlier this month. UW doctors, he said, examined his knee and he said he’s hopeful he’ll be ready for Coeur d’Alene’s season opener on Aug. 25.