The weekend visit to Washington of Mater Dei tight end the Huskies in good position to close on the rising star, Spencer Shannon.

On his ride home from the airport I asked him to describe the trip and he let out a sigh, and said, “super eye opening,” followed by an exhale of satisfaction.  “It was something else.”

It has to be hard to impress a California kid who is coming off of a national championship season but the Huskies did just that.  It wasn’t the coaches, it wasn’t the view from Coach DeBoer’s office of Mt. Rainier, it wasn’t how tight-knit the staff was, how well the players get along.  It wasn’t any one thing.

It was everything.

Before he stepped back into his house in Southern California the trip from the Emerald City Shannon made it easy to set his Top 3 schools:

“Washington, Texas, and UCLA,” he said.  “I was just blown away by how the players are towards each other.”

While his stock has been rising during the off-season with offers coming in from Power 5 conferences SEC, Big XII, and the Pac-12 he has decided to eliminate Tennessee, Utah, Cal, Washington State, and focus on his final 3.

Having visited UCLA earlier this month, and Washington this past weekend, Steven Sarkisian’s Longhorns will get his final visit before his decision.

“I plan on visiting Texas in June then making my decision in the middle of summer,” he said.

But he’s in no hurry.

“I love the Washington coaches.  They’re all great people to be around,” he said.  “Many of the coaches turned down other opportunities to continue to coach with Coach DeBoer.”

Check back with RealDawg.com as we track Shannon’s recruiting in the coming months.

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