We called it “epic” here on Realdawg.com. It happened long before it became public, but this July Fourth was and will be remembered as the day that Washington snatched the number-two center in the country away from UCLA and USC.
Why the word “epic”? Traditionally the word is used in the literary vernacular; a book, or a poem, but in urban-slang it means something “remarkable” and “extraordinary”.
The Huskies landing a guy like Myles Murao, who’s from Mater Dei High School, who was favored to go to USC and wasn’t even going to make a decision until later in the winter is truly remarkable.
A four-star prospect, Murao is a guy who will enroll early at Washington — and with the departure of all First-Team All Pac-12 center, Nick Harris at the end of 2019, Murao has a chance at coming in and doing what Harris did: Start early.
“It is a great opportunity”, Murao told Realdawg.com yesterday afternoon, “I’m shooting for center because, obviously, Nick is graduating.”
Murao has all the gifts and strengths to come in right away and compete and will have had an entire year to rehab and regain all his strength following a leg injury last season. He did compete at The Opening earlier in the week and made the Top Five of the offensive linemen, and while he is a guy who could play guard or tackle, Washington loves him at center — and as we said — that’s going to be a big need in 2020.
Getting in early and being able to participate in spring ball will help Murao to get his career off to a strong start at Washington.
Murao was in for his official visit on June 7th, and he spent that weekend hanging out with fellow commit, Roger Rosengarten, and also local lean, Geirean Hatchett.
“Those are all my boys” he said, “We talk almost everyday.”
Realdawg.com first learned that Murao had planned to give a silent verbal to the coaches on the Wednesday after he had returned home from the trip, and at that time Murao had gone completely quiet — usually a sign that something is going on. He wound up committing on that Thursday from what we understood via a source close to the situation.
At that time we didn’t really know when it would become public, but the same source said it would likely come down after The Opening. We had planned to do site maintenance on the Fourth due to the holiday, but had to call that off early yesterday morning after learning that a public commitment was on the way.
So far, this offensive line class is the best we’ve seen in years; and it’s still not complete. Washington is favored to get a pledge from Hatchett soon, and with Rosengarten, Murao, and Gaard Memmelaar already on board, it could finish one of the top OL classes in the country.
After all, Memmelaar is completely underrated and many of the network gurus have slept on him.
When finally asked, “Why Washington?”, Murao simply said, “Washington checked all of the boxes on my checklist…man Coach Huff is legit, me and him have probably the tightest relationship I’ve had with a coach that was recruiting me.”
Does he think he can win a national title at Washington?
“It’s one of the reasons why I will be attending this school”, Murao said.
Again, Mater Dei has been more of a breeding ground for the California schools; and Washington has recruited strong there, but didn’t win those battles.
“Well they finally got a Monarch”, Murao said , “I’m trying to get a couple more.”
