Three-star Washington tight end commit Decker DeGraaf has found a nice rhythm on and off the field this season. On the field on Friday nights he’ll turn in a monster performance that’s followed up by phone calls and texts from his future coaches at Washington.
Three big weeks, three calls from the Huskies with the first call always coming from, “Coach Sheridan baby!!,” DeGraaf said via text. “I’m always getting calls from the Huskies.”
Heading into his senior season DeGraff’s stock modestly rose from being rated the 48th best tight end in the country to where now number 34. That number will most likely rise significantly when the next batch of player evaluations are released.
“He’s not a 3-star tight end in my book,” said RealDawg.com lead high school scout Trevor Mueller. “Teams know he’s coming at them and they still have no answer. He’s listed at 6-4 and 230 and plays like it.”
To his point, Friday night against their chief rival Charter Oak he caught three first-half touchdowns of 52, 38, and 43 yards. On the 52-yard pass, DeGraaf pulled in the pass at the CO 42, stepped through a would-be tackler at the 32, then outran the rest of the defenders to the 8 yard line, where he dragged the final defender into the endzone. On his 48-yard score, he caught the ball between two defenders, one completely draped over him, wrestling the ball away and then he again beat the rest of the defense to the end zone.
His final offensive stat line: 5 receptions 202 yards and 3 touchdowns.
But let’s not forget that as an edge defender, he ripped the ball from the ball carrier for his teammate to recover. He also has an interception on the season and a few sacks, to boot.
In each game this season, he’s gotten nearly exponentially better. In his first game of the season, he had 4 catches for 41 yards and a touchdown. In Glendora’s second game had what most were calling a “career night” with seven receptions for 137 yards, including a 20-yard TD. By the third game, even with a target firmly affixed to his back, DeGraff racked up 201 receiving yards and added 3 TDs, giving him 5 scores on the season.
“He has strong hands to make contested catches and a frame that can absorb blows which makes him incredibly hard to bring down,” said Mueller. “I will add that while he has strong hands they’re also impressively soft.”
After the nail-biter in week 1 Degraff said that he learned a valuable lesson.
“We learned a lot about the character of our team,” he said. “How the senior leadership and everyone being on board towards the same goal really set us apart.”
Maybe he and his Tartan teammates also learned to not let teams hang around. After giving up an early touchdown by Jurupa Hills, Glendora ran off 21 straight points including a 20-yard passing TD from QB Eric Najarro to Degraff.
“My team and I played an amazing game,” DeGraaf said. “We rallied together at the end to score a go-ahead touchdown with 18 seconds left. A great way to start the season. A big, exciting, electric win.”
And it also prompted a call from his future coaches in Seattle.
“I got a message and a call from Coach Sheridan and also got a great call from Coach DeBoer,” he said. “(He) was telling me how is awesome to start the season off with a win and how he’s excited to watch the tape when he gets a chance.”
After a fantastic season debut though, in the second game of the season, in addition to his career night receiving, Degraff ratcheted up this as a defensive end in the second game. With about 5 minutes remaining he came up with a strip sack late in the game to get the ball back for his offense.
2 games 7 receptions, 178 receiving yards, two touchdowns–and two calls from Nick Sheridan and DeBoer.
And then came his next “career night” against Charter Oaks. His progression looks like this:
–Game 1: 4 receptions, 41 yards, 1 TD
–Game 2: 7 receptions, 137 yards, 1 TD
–Game 3: 5 receptions, 202 yards 3 TDs
Saturday he was able to take in Washington’s game over Boise State and watch UW tight end Jack Westover score untouched on a 20-yard pass from Michael Penix.
“That got me fired up!” he said via text. “Great Huskies win baby!!”
Seeing how the Huskies have transformed Westover from an unheralded walk-on tight end to a starter has DeGraff excited for his future at Washington.
“I can’t wait,” he said.
He has plans to be in Seattle at least once this season.
“I want to get up to the Oregon game,” he said about the potential Top 10 matchup between the Huskies and the Oregon Ducks, on October 14.
His next game is this Friday night at 7:00 on the road at Pacifica.
