The recruiting streak that Washington is on is impressive, moving from 69th nationally to its current spot of twenty-first with the commitment of defensive back Curley Reed this week.

The new Washington staff had to restart the entire recruiting platform but also install an entirely new operating system.  It seems as if Washington’s has successfully switched from a Windows operating system to iOS.

DeBoer and company quickly establish relationships with recruits from non-traditional recruiting grounds of Minnesota, Louisiana, and South Dakota.

California, Texas, and Washington continue to provide the Huskies with talent, as well.

Will a similar on-field change be necessary or will a simple reboot result with similar payoff on the gridiron?

There are several reasons to expect an upgrade.

Firstly, simply hitting CTRL+ALT+DEL may be all that is necessary with the current roster that’s replete with talent and experience.  But DeBoer has also inherited players who are hungry.

After a pandemic-shortened season in 2020 and a grossly underachieving season in 2021, I expect the Huskies to at least double their win-total of last season.

Sticking with the computer metaphor, the Husky offense often had a power outage between the 20’s.  For one reason or another things didn’t seem to click.

• Injuries at the running back position
• A Freshman QB
• An OC with no history of developing QBs
• An All-American left tackle injured much of the season
• A questionable offensive scheme that didn’t suit the personnel

Those offensive factors have been addressed and the players appear to be healthy.

Rebooting the Husky defense will be more difficult but not impossible.  The reasons for the ineffectiveness are largely, in my opinion, on the offense.

If UW’s offense can have more sustained drives between the 20’s this season it will go a long way in helping the defense’s physical condition.

Late in games last season a spent defense was unable to get the ball back to the offense or keep teams from scoring.

Yes, there were many occasions where they just couldn’t get off the field, but as lot of those instances were late in games with a gassed defense.

Surprisingly, Washington’s scoring defense was a respectable 37th nationally, giving up just 22.7 points a game.  It was the offense that didn’t hold up their end of the bargain, scoring 21.5 points a game, bad enough for 108th of the 130 FBS teams.

And that’s with two of the defense’s  best players, Edefuan Ulofoshio who played in the first six games and Zion Tupuola-Fetui who saw action in the final five games.

Overall, the team’s health appears to be headed in the right direction.  Replacing Cade Otton, Trent McDuffie, Kyler Gordon, and Race Porter won’t be easy, but the reserves from last season appear to be ready to roll.

The recent power surge off the field appears to have created an auxiliary benefit and a final element to the success equation: an energized fanbase.

If Husky Stadium can return to its form of the 2016-18 run, and especially the 2016 Stanford game that marked Washington’s return to prominence, the energy around the program will be traced to the aggressiveness on the recruiting trail.

To answer the question, “What Does Washington’s Recruiting Streak Say About DeBoer’s In-Game Strategy?”:  They will be aggressive.