On why he wanted to visit Washington… The thing that made me want to visit was just being offered by a school like Washington it’s kind of hard to not visit. So many great things going on there. So I just had to get up and check it out. I visited unofficially in the spring with just my dad. My mom and my sister were at a softball tournament so they couldn’t make it. I was able to get up with my entire family – my mom, my dad, my sister and myself – so that was something else that was really important and that was a reason why I wanted to go back. To be able to get the whole family up there and show them what it was about. Get back around the people of Seattle, the coaching staff and the players and stuff. That was the reasoning for wanting to take the official.”
On what was different about the official visit… So the visit was great. It was really eye-opening. The game obviously didn’t go as we would have liked it to. But that’s okay. Everybody has bad days. But being able also to see the tight ends. The tight ends had a great game overall and that was really cool to see. The atmosphere was great. The fans were there no-stop for the entire game. Just walking around the campus and walking around the game wearing my little recruit lanyard I had so many different fans and alumni coming up to me wishing me luck with my decision. Some others said ‘Go Dawgs’ and ‘come here it’s the best place ever’. So just a bunch of people coming up to me just being friendly. That was something that was really cool that stood out to me there. Being able to talk to my host, Julius Irvin. I went to high school with him back at Servite. So knowing him personally already just being able to catch up with him and him being real with me, me being real with him. It was overall just a great experience I would say.
On Irvin relationship… Yeah it’s cool for sure knowing if I were to go there I would know three, four, five guys already there. Either because they went to my school or played against them in the Trinity league. Or just knowing them because they played in the Trinity league or they’re from southern California. That’s obviously a cool factor knowing I would be able to step on campus and be able to know somebody at least. Some other schools I would go in knowing absolutely nobody. Just being able to talk to all of them. I know Trent McDuffie very well. Keith (Taylor). I talked to Julius. A.J. Carty, the long snapper. Terrell Bynum. When he was at Servite his sophomore-junior year I was in eight grade. So I took a visit day at Servite and he was my host at Servite so we know each other as well. So just talking to all these guys all they told me the Trinity league and Servite will get you ready for Washington. And it’s a perfect fit transition from Servite to the University of Washington so that was really comforting to hear that as well.
On his relationship with UW TE coach Jordan Paopao… The relationship with the coaches is great. I’ve been on FaceTime with coach Pao, coach Petersen many times. Getting letters from the whole coaching staff probably weekly. Text back and forth with some of the coaches. But yeah my relationship with coach Pao is great. Great family guy. Great coach as well. He knows what he’s doing obviously. He’s developed so many tight ends. So he’s a really trustworthy guy. Another thing I like the guide I was talking to on the visit, they said whatever the coaches tell you, believe it. You can trust them. Whatever they are telling you during this recruiting process once you get here, if you work hard it will come true. So just knowing the whole coaching staff is a bunch of trustworthy guys and guys that really care about you. That’s something special about their coaching staff for sure.”
On the Oregon State-UW game… Yeah that’s going to be wild. I got both coaching staffs hitting me up about it. I’ll be watching it. Be with the family I’m sure because we have a bye this week so we’ll be able to sit down and watch that on Friday night. Two good teams. Get to be able to see the tight ends play, both teams how the offenses do and how the coaches coach. All that stuff. I’m excited.
On what’s next in his recruitment… So I have one more visit that I’m hoping to take to Cal. I honestly don’t know when that is going to be. I did an interview on the way back but it was supposed to be this weekend but we have a mandatory Saturday practice. We have a big playoff game in two weeks so we got that so I don’t know if I’m going to be able to get out of that one.
On upcoming Mission Viejo playoff game… “The game we’re really excited for we’ve been practicing hard. Every week it’s the biggest week for us. We’re just treating this as another week. We got lucky to be able to play them. That’s going to be a good game. Should be a good matchup and we’re just looking to go in play physical, play our game and we think we’ll be able to come out with the outcome that we want. My game, I would say just a big tight end football. I can put my hand down and down block a defensive end if I need to. I can go in motion. I can run routes out of there. I can run routes out of slot. I can come across the formation lining up at H. I mean there’s a whole bunch of things. I would say and what I’m being told at least by Washington and what they like about me – that’s probably something you want to hear – is they really like how versatile I am. The defense doesn’t really know what I’m doing. Am I going to line up at slot and run a route? Am I going to line up inline and block? So that is something I’d say is special about me is just that I have some strengths doing a little bit of everything.
On what his parents said after the UW visit… Yeah I mean they were super impressed. Washington’s a big-time program. Being able to go up there and, like I said, the game day atmosphere was just crazy. So many people, so many fans. We really felt the love from them. I wouldn’t say it was overwhelming, but I know they felt comfortable in that atmosphere. I’m sure they obviously liked seeing the tight ends being able to be a big part of that game with a bunch of catches, two touchdowns. Multiple tight ends in the game at one time and throughout the game. They really feel comfortable and they like Washington. So they’re leaving it up to me though. But if I need advice they’re there for me. They’re leaving this whole thing up to me which is nice.
On the one or two things that will separate the one school… To be honest, right now I don’t know what that one or two things would be. I just know wherever I go it’s going to be because I feel overall the best there. I feel most comfortable in all aspects. So obviously the comfortably is the biggest thing. Not just being comfortable in one aspect. Just all the aspects I’d like to be comfortable. I know I can’t get everything I want in one school that’s pretty hard to do. The three that I’ve narrowed it down to it’s going to be pretty hard to go wrong. I just have to keep praying and I know I’ll end up in the right spot.”
