Washington’s coaching staff has put in a ton of work on the recruiting trail, and the next few months are going to be crucial for continuing to build momentum before head coach Kalen DeBoer makes his on-field debut in September. Under Jimmy Lake, recruiting was bleak, some highly rated recruits weren’t made priorities, and earning the commitment of only five blue-chip prospects (by the 247 Sports Composite) during Lake’s tenure should speak for itself.

Since DeBoer and his staff arrived, they’ve had one of the toughest jobs in the country. Not only did they have an uphill battle competing against the recruiting giants that USC and Oregon have put together, but in the new and uncertain world of NIL, they’re competing with the best schools in the country for the top players in their backyard.

DeBoer sounded the “Woof” alarm three times from May 16th-19th, most notably for four-star wide receiver Rashid Williams out of Pittsburg (Calif.) High School. Three commits in the span of four days is a great sign of the kind of impact that this staff is making with prospects, especially on official visits. All three players had taken an official visit to Montlake from May 13th-15th, and within a week decided to announce their intentions to play at Washington.

Now, summer is coming. The coaching staff has been able to put together a ton of official visits, most recently three-star tight end Spencer Shannon out of Mater Dei (Calif.), which was all broken down by Realdawg.com’s Reece McCulley right here! Next up is four-star defensive lineman Trey Wilson from Lakeview Centennial in Garland, Texas. Getting a visit from Wilson is a great sign for the relationships this staff has been able to build outside of Washington’s normal recruiting footprint, because he’s not the only one either…

Four-star cornerback Jyaire Hill from Kankakee (Illinois) was also on campus for an official visit from May 13th-15th, and four-star defensive lineman Anthony James from Wylie East (Texas), along with three-star defensive lineman Elinneus Davis from Moorhead (Minn.), and three-star safety Jordan Sanford from Mansfield Timberview (Texas) will be on campus from June 24th-26th. That last weekend of June looks like it will end up being the biggest three days Washington recruiting has seen since Laiatu Latu’s official visit in December of 2018.

Right now, Washington has 14 confirmed visitors for that weekend, headlined by James, Fairmont Prep’s (Calif.) four-star tight end Collins Acheampong, and three-star in-state offensive linemen Micah Banuelos from Kennedy Catholic, and Landen Hatchett from Ferndale. Instead of just listing every visitor, I’ll throw a link to 247 Sports’ official visit tracker right here.

The off-field recruiting charge led by director of player personnel Courtney Morgan, and director of recruiting Spencer Henkle has been putting in a ton of work behind the scenes. Now it’s time for the combo of the on and off-field staff to close on at least a few of the prospects by the end of that weekend.

Obviously, the number one target should be James. As important as the in-state prospects are, there really isn’t a better way to announce your presence on the national recruiting scene than flipping a highly rated player from the state of Texas from Texas A&M. Next on the list are probably the two in-state linemen, and getting one or both of them in the boat that weekend could end up defining the class.

There’s no way around it, it’s time for this staff to show that they can close on some of their top targets. If they can walk away from that weekend with a commitment from James and/or Acheampong, that would be the best possible scenario. Other prospects that are going to be very high on the list of players to close on are cornerback Maliki Crawford from Pacifica (Calif.), his teammate, linebacker Jordan Whitney, and offensive lineman Elishah Jackett, out of El Modena (Calif.).

June 24th-26th could end up defining DeBoer’s tenure at Washington. Picking up a few big-time recruits and getting the ball rolling before the season gets underway is incredibly important for the future of the program. It feels like there’s going to be a lot of success on the field in 2022, but if all the staff’s top targets have already committed elsewhere, it might not be as significant. A good weekend could end up leading to a class ranked somewhere between 30th and 35th nationally, which should be considered a huge win in DeBoer’s first full recruiting cycle.