Coming off Chris Petersen’s best class (2nd in the Pac-12), Washington is going to take another step forward to become a West Coast power in 2019.

Every coach on the Husky staff has his own recruiting area and region — starting from the top and moving on down all the way to the recruiting office assistants.

In other words, it’s a team effort.

When Chris Petersen arrived at Washington he had to change his philosephy in terms of finding any weak links and replacing them with stronger personnel.

Offensive upgrades were needed, for one thing.

OFFENSE

Last year the 2018 cycle began big with Marquis Spiker and Austin Osborne  committing at receiver; two of the best on the West Coast. And now that the Bush is back — there are two 4-star quarterbacks and a 5-star transfer.

But landing Jacob Eason was of immense value — and we haven’t even touched on that as much as we need to.

We’ve already talked to one big 4-star offensive lineman; a national recruit who was absolutely blown away that Eason was transferring to Washington. So this is an immediate strength for the 2019 effort.

But what are we talking about when we say they’re “tweaking” things?

Let’s turn to defense.

DEFENSE

We all know that Washington has gone after some big-time defensive ends. Two years they went after Jaelan Phillips, and this year they went the extra mile to recruit Jeremiah Martin.

They know the caliber of player they want — and they know they have a ton of competition too because true edge-rushers are in high demand.  And with Ikaika Malloe now becoming a rising star with d-tackles, flanked by Pete Kwiatkowski — who could concentrate their efforts on these special defensive ends?

Washington has one of the best recruiters, not only in the Pac-12, but in the country – and his name is Jimmy Lake.

How good is he?

Twice now he’s pulled the best defensive backs out of the state of Arizona — and also secured letters from two of the best defensive backs in the country: Kyler Gordon and Julius Irvin.

Gordon was a guy who actually went back to Notre Dame on his own dime and spent three days in South Bend even after he’d already taken an official trip. Lake was able to get his attention back to Washington and close the deal on signing day.

Then the Huskies came back into the forefront for Julius Irvin, even after he’d tripped to Alabama, Notre Dame and Michigan. He was a so-called “lock” to USC after he delayed signing in December due to a family emergency. But Jimmy Lake came in with a buzzer beater again and closed within a few days of signing day. Not only did Irvin say “no” to Nick Saban, he said “no” to USC and Clay Helton.

So now Lake has been promoted to defensive coordinator — and he’s not just going to be recruiting defensive backs. We know now, via a source, that Lake will be making big moves in the recruitment of defensive ends for 2019.

How big? He’s going to be personally recruiting defensive ends.

We also learned that Washington could offer up to six elite defensive ends, and our source said that he’d bet his house that Lake would land one of those six.

Remember, the “Bucks” aren’t guys that grow on trees — and true edge-rushers are hard to get.

Coach Kwiatkowski will continue to be involved, and Ikaika Malloe is the defensive tackle main man. But if there’s a big-time defensive end in another coach’s area, look for Lake to enter the picture and be more involved.

So what does mean for Washington?

It means that recruiting is going to another level — and other schools in the Pac-12 and the nation need to be on alert. 2018 was a terrific recruiting cycle and we’ve already seen more innovation from Petersen and his approach to recruiting.

But look at the “Lake Washington” factor here.

Jimmy Lake is like Shaft (shut your mouth) on the recruiting trail — he’s just good at what he does. He forms close bonds with kids, their families, and he has an NFL background and has shown that he can develop players all the way to the first and second round of the draft.

He’s turned down jobs from all over the country to stay at Washington — and Lake could wind up being a head coach at the NFL level before his career has ended. And of course we all know that Pete Carroll is getting near retirement. The Seahawks should consider giving Lake the first interview when the job comes open. His star is so on the rise that it’s ridiculous.

But the bottom line is that Washington is continuing to upgrade their game altogether. The defensive line trifecta of Kwiatkowski, Malloe, and now Lake is just stupid good. And this 2018 class is the catalyst of things to come.

Even Pac-12 network analyst, Yogi Roth said “This 2018 class is a national championship caliber class”.

Can you dig it?