Top player in Washington stays home

After landing record breaking WR Cody Bruns last week (304 receptions), the man who could not recruit, Ty Willingham has landed the best player in the state of Washington for the 2008 class.

6-6, 250 lb tight end, Kavario Middleton committed to play for the Washington Huskies. The Lakes high (Lakewood, WA) product chose Washington over Oregon, Miami, Cal, Arizona St and Michigan. How he ranks:

Rivals: #30 overall, #2 TE in nation
ESPN: #65 overall, #3 TE in nation
Scout: #17 overall, #2 TE in nation

Kavario Middleton is a physical specimen. He is as physically gifted as maybe any athlete in the entire nation for 2008. For a player his size he can fly. The two-way star - he is an outstanding defensive end also - is as versatile a player as I have seen in this class.

As a pass catcher he is an impossible match-up for defenders. He can run past and around any linebacker you can throw at him. When he splits out, he towers over smaller defensive backs, over-powering them for the football. Middleton is superb at working the seems of the football field. He follows his namesake as going over the middle is where he is comfortable. He will stretch any defense at the next level.

He is simply an outstanding athlete. I've seen him completely hurdle a defender much like Ben Troupe did against Georgia when he was at Florida. Kavario is the gem of this Husky recruiting class.

Oh, and just to add a little value, Willingham gets his teammate in the deal too. Jermaine Kearse is one of the top-5 players in the state of Washington as well. The 6-0, 175 pound wide receiver has great speed and will make a nice compliment to the pass catching class Washington is building right now for '08.

The guy who is most excited about this class has to be Jake Locker though. The additions of Middleton, Kearse and Bruns all offer unique abilities to the position players at Washington. Locker will have plenty of weapon at his disposal.

Willingham, once again remember that this man clearly did not know how to recruit, (*cough* Brady Quinn, Jeff Samardzija, John Carlson, Tom Zibby, *cough*) has a chance to land most of the top-20 players in the state of Washington. He already has nine of them locked up and is in the running for seven more.