The Huskies got their man today in the person of California QB, Ethan Garbers. Garbers, who’s 6-3, 194 and goes to Corona Del Mar in Newport Beach, CA., picked the Huskies over the likes of Georgia, Miami, UCLA, Utah, Washington State, and several others.
“Washington is a great program with great coaches”, Garbers said, “I actually committed to Coach Pete on Friday and they were really excited. They kind of compared me of Jake Browning with a bigger arm at this stage (when he was being recruited).”
One thing impressive about Garbers is that he would commit to a school that has such a full and talented quarterback room, “There’s always going to be competition wherever I go”, he said, “It only brings ou the best in us.”
Garbers’ mother was especially fond of Chris Petersen and what the Washington program has to offer; both scholastically and athletically. And he has the blessing of his older brother, Chase, who currently plays for Cal.
“When I told my parents I was committing to Washington they were really excited for me”, Garbers said, “My mom absolutely loves Coach Petersen.”
Garbers also added that his relationship with Hamdan made a big difference, “He doesn’t just talk to me like a coach”, he said, “He talks to me man-to-man.”
With Garbers on board, the Huskies look to be in a great place to land his teammate and tight end, Mark Redman.
“I’m working on Mark Redman and Gary Bryant…I’m trying on Humphreys but that might be hard”, Garbers said, “I have also reached out to Sav’ell Smalls.”
Garbers and Redman were both in Seattle together the weekend that both received offers and Jordan Paopao has done a great job of selling the way UW uses their tight ends — and he saw it for himself when he was in Seattle and earned the offer.
Both Redman and Garbers are going to be back in Seattle on April 5th and 6th to take in spring ball and get to know the atmosphere even further.
Will Redman be committed by that time too? It could definitely happen.
For Garbers, the scouting report is that he’s a very cerebral quarterback with excellent pocket presence and very good arm strength. While not being a dual-threat quarterback, he has all the intangibles you want in a pro-style quarterback; he’s tall, he excellent field awareness, a quick release, and he’s very good at sensing backside pressure and can escape pressure despite not considering himself to be very mobile. He’s still young too and just scatching the surface of all that potential.
Recently, his brother Chase told us that Ethan has a “cannon” for an arm.
While Garbers is not listed as a 4-star quarterback on some networks, there’s no reason why he shouldn’t be. He’s only 16 years old and does have a big arm. It wouldn’t be a surprise to see other schools continue to try to offer him and sway him away from his commitment to the Huskies.
“I don’t care who they are”, Garbers said about that possibility, “I’, 100% solid to Washington.”
But the biggest question that no one has really asked yet: Who will he be rooting for in early September when Cal plays at Husky Stadium and his brother Chase is leading that charge for the Bears?
“I don’t know what my parents are going to do, but I know what I’m going to do — I’m going to be rooting for Washington, full bore. I’m a Dawg…I’ll be rooting for Washington big time.”
