In Matters Of Recruiting, UW Finds All Is Not Lost

Damage will be done to University of Washington football recruiting whether the Huskies are judged guilty of wrong-doing or not. Such is life doing public business.

Allen Wallace, publisher of SuperPrep recruiting magazine, said one high-school player he talked to canceled a trip to Washington because of the negative publicity surrounding the program, and that he had heard of others.

"It just scares kids," Wallace said.

Scott Frost, a quarterback from Riverbank, Neb., missed a recruiting trip to Seattle in December because of bad weather, and hasn't been back. Frost committed to Stanford.

A suspicion persists that the rest of the schools in the Pac-10, even the country, are seizing the opportunity to bad-mouth Washington.

John Green is the coach at Vashon High School. By invitation of the parents, he has been a personal witness to the recruitment of his star player, Jason Chorak.

Chorak is 6 feet 3, 252 pounds, with 4.8-second 40-yard speed.

An explosive athlete who played tight end and linebacker in high school, he has made recruiting visits to Texas, California and Washington, has one scheduled this weekend to UCLA and still is trying to decide whether to accept an invitation to visit Miami.

Along the way, he turned down Michigan, Washington State, USC, Nebraska, Pitt and both Arizona schools.

"There has not been one bad thing said about Washington in recruiting that I've heard," Green said.

Indeed, Chorak said an assistant coach from Texas, Rex Norris, went out of his way to praise the UW program during his visit to the island yesterday.

"He told me there is no more honest program in the country," said Chorak, "and that Don James is one of the best coaches in the country."

The recruitment of Chorak began in earnest last spring. Then came November and the revelation that UW quarterback Billy Joe Hobert had received illegal loans, that another player, Danianke Smith, was arrested on a charge of drug distribution and that former players had accused UW boosters of giving them illegal payments.

And perceptions were formed.

"I have this vision of how a player at Miami talks and what he looks like," said Green, "and it's probably all wrong. But that's what happens."

The perception of a program, of course, is influenced by where you are and what - and whom - you want to believe.

"I've known Dick Baird (UW recruiting coordinator) for two years," said Chorak, "and he doesn't have to lie to me.

"I've been to their summer camp. I know players on the team like Richard Thomas and Ernie Conwell - they're great guys. What better people could you have talk to you about what really goes on?"

Added Green, "for every Danianke Smith in a program, there is a Richard Thomas. There have been an awful lot of influences on Jason from the University of Washington, and most of them have been good."

Coach James had dinner with the Choraks on Sunday. Jason's parents emigrated from the Croatian republic of Yugoslavia in the 1960s. Norris, the assistant from Texas, was in yesterday. Keith Gilbertson, head coach at Cal, is expected for dinner next Monday.

"I liked Cal a lot," said Chorak, "and I liked Texas a lot. In fact, if Austin were in Oregon, I'd be there in a minute. They're crazy about their football down there."

But Green suggested his star player will have a hard time turning his back on the Huskies.

"He's watched games with the recruits since he was a sophomore," Green said. "The academic progress of a person like Richard Thomas really made an impression on him. And then you have Don James come to your home for dinner."

And, too, Jason's brother, Mario, is a pre-dental student at Washington.

Before November, the Huskies anticipated an extraordinary recruiting class, because of their successes, because the Northwest was loaded with prospects and because they could offer more than 20 scholarships.

It would make sense that because of their difficulties they now would do better the closer they are to home. And that may prove to be true, but last weekend the Huskies had visits from two Texas players, wide receiver Fred Coleman from Tyler and defensive back Shino Prater from Arlington, plus running back Tavian Banks from Iowa, running back Dayna Overton from Indiana, and offensive lineman Zach Adami from Arkansas.

Recruits visiting from California the past weekend included offensive lineman Andy Meyers from Fontana, quarterbacks Mike Smith from Whittier and Brady Batten from Escondido, and offensive lineman Mostafa Sobhi from Hawthorne.

While the recruiting process seems like life and death to coaches and recruits alike, Jason Chorak knows it isn't.

"I've got cousins fighting in the war in Croatia," he said. "If my parents were still there I might be dodging bullets right now instead of trying to choose among such great schools and programs."