Recruit Hooked On Huskies Since He Was 10

Of all the football recruits who signed a letter of intent with Washington today, Kevin Ware was the first to pledge to the Huskies. He did so long before touted prospects Paul Arnold and Cody Pickett said yes to Washington. Even before the school hired new Coach Rick Neuheisel.

Ware chose Washington eight years ago when he watched the Huskies beat Iowa in the Rose Bowl and claim a piece of the 1991 national championship. Back then, he was 10 years old and football was new to him; but he was hooked on the Huskies.

It didn't matter that he lived in Spring, Texas, a tiny town about 26 miles north of Houston where little boys grow up dreaming about playing for the Longhorns or the Aggies. Nor did it matter that Ware had no real significant knowledge of the University of Washington and even less about Seattle. All he remembers is a game in which Steve Emtman was the star, the Huskies wore purple uniforms and gold helmets and Washington was considered one of the best teams in the country.

"That was right when I started to get into football, and they impressed me so much I just followed them every year since then," Ware said. "I don't even remember the score. It was kind of hard to follow them down here, but they were pretty good and they'd be on TV every now and then. "When schools started recruiting me, I made sure I talked to them. And everything just worked out. I liked what they had to say and they liked me, and everything just worked out."

The relationship wasn't quite that smooth.

Ware, a 6-foot-3, 250-pound tight end, gave a "soft" commitment to Washington before his senior year at Klein Oak High. The Huskies thought they landed a steal because he had been unheralded as a junior and overlooked for most of the state's postseason honors.

However, Ware attracted wide attention after catching 22 passes for 440 yards and two touchdowns on a team that finished 5-5. It wasn't his pass catching that attracted scouts, though. It was his ability to block.

"I felt sorry for some of those kids he had to block," Klein Oak Coach David Smith said. "Nobody stood toe to toe with him at no time during the season. No one could handle Kevin, he was so strong.

"And not just strong, but he had the flexibility and the footwork to just topple them. . . . That's an awfully nice package to have."

Ware has been timed at 4.6 seconds for 40 yards, can bench press nearly 400 pounds and squat-lift close to 500, Smith said.

"The first time I met him, he was in the ninth grade and he was about 5-11 and 180 (pounds), so I put him at tight end," Smith said. "I wanted somebody with long legs and that could catch the ball and could still run.

"But he was a long-legged fat boy. A little soft and lazy, too. . . . The fall of his sophomore year, it started to click. He didn't play much that year, but he just lived in the weight room.

"A year later, he started showing signs he was going to be an excellent player. Nobody could touch him. He'd just hurt people in practice so much I had to be careful of who he went up against."

Midway during Ware's senior season, the nightly phone calls from coaches, recruiting services and the media began. Sometimes it would be too much for him and his family.

"It's winding down now, but I've still got people calling me, talking to me about their school and wanting me to go to their school," Ware said. "I told them I'm signing (today) with Washington, but they don't stop."

Ware remained loyal to Washington even after it fired Coach Jim Lambright, but the Husky coaching change caused him to take visits to Miami, Colorado, Oklahoma and Baylor.

The Hurricanes and the Sooners pressed him for a decision, and he was leaning toward Miami until Washington hired Neuheisel, the former Buffalo coach.

Ware was on his visit at Colorado and in the auditorium when Neuheisel announced his decision to leave to a stunned group of recruits. He said many of them didn't know what to think, but for him his choices became simpler.

"I figured it was a chance to go to the school I dreamed about," he said.

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HUSKY COMMITMENTS

Today is the national letter-of-intent day, Washington has received oral commitments from 18 football recruits. The Huskies could offer as many as 20 scholarships. Here's a look at the players expected to sign with Washington.

Name Pos Ht. Wt. School (hometown) John Anderson K 6-2 175 John Paul HS (Boca Raton, Fla.) Paul Arnold RB 6-1 200 Kennedy HS (Seattle) Todd Bachert OL 6-5 290 Mission Viejo HS (Calif.) Wes Call OL 6-7 300 Santa Rosa JC (Calif.) Adis Davytan OL 6-3 300 Glendale CC (Calif.) Roderick Green CB 5-11 180 Blinn College (Texas) Clayton Hathorne FS 6-3 205 Atheron HS (Menlo, Calif.) Tyler Krambrink LB 6-1 190 Eatonville HS Levi Madarieta FS 6-3 195 Weiser HS (Idaho) Chris Massey CB 5-11 185 Valley View HS (Moreno Valley, Calif.) Quetin Morgan WR 6-0 170 Denton HS (Texas) Nick Newton OL 6-5 280 White River HS (Buckley, Wash.) Cody Pickett QB 6-4 205 Caldwell HS (Idaho) Adam Seery DB 6-3 190 El Dorado HS (Albuquerque, NM) Domynic Shaw CB 5-10 180 Skyline HS (Oakland) Jerome Stevens LB 6-2 245 Rio Mesa HS (Oxnard, Calif.) Joey Thomas DB 6-2 180 Kennedy HS (Seattle) Kevin Ware # TE 6-3 230 Klein Oak HS (Spring, Texas)

# Committed to Washington last month, but is waivering.