Good Thursday morning. We had it for you first here at the SVSJ late yesterday afternoon, the news about Mount Si High School football player Andrew Edson’s very quick college commitment to Washington State University, ending what had become perhaps the most exciting and competitive recruiting process for a Wildcat football athlete perhaps ever. In total, Edson ended up with over a dozen offers, all from NCAA Division I universities, and we think that may be the most that any Wildcat athlete in any sport has ever received in a recruiting process, who knows.
Wildcat football running back Cole Norah (upper center) races into the end zone to score a touchdown during a game last season. Norah is among three Mount Si High School seniors-to-be listed as top class of 2021 college recruits by a major recruiting website. Teammates Brayden Holt (front left) and Colby Botten (right) look on. (File photo, Rhett Workman/SVSJ)
But more importantly, as we noted briefly in our discussion yesterday when the news broke – and we had it for you about 15 minutes after it was officially announced and your editor had to do a couple of double-takes looking at the Tweet in which Edson made his announcement with – this is an example of the the type of thing that new Cougar head coach Nick Rolovich is hoping to do a lot of as a result of the extensive outreach he has undertaken around the state with fans and high school coaches following his hiring by WSU earlier this year to replace the departed Mike Leach, who resigned as Cougar coach following last season to take over the program at Mississippi State. So this is a piece of news that is likely to resonate with a lot of potential Washington state high school prospects and could over time help WSU land a number of other top in-state athletes. Speaking of which, that is our discussion piece this morning.
Edson’s announcement came on the heels of he and two of his Wildcat teammates being listed among the top class of 2021 high school football recruits in Washington according to the influential recruiting website 24/7 Sports. Edson was listed as 15th on their board, with QB Clay Millen ranked sixth overall and RB Cole Norah listed as 53rd. Both Millen and Norah have not committed yet and we’ll actually have to check with Cole on his search as he hasn’t as far as we know had a lot to report on that front as of late.
Millen, on the other hand, is being actively recruited by NCAA Division I schools, including several in the Pac-12. It is not known whether Edson’s decision yesterday will end up influencing Millen’s at all – Millen, with the schools that have offered him, including Oregon, Arizona and Indiana, has a number of things that he can factor into his decision. So it will be interesting to see ultimately what Millen decides. As we have noted, there remains an in-person recruitment ban by the NCAA between coaches and prospective recruits, and that is expected to be extended soon.
Also of note, the website CollegeFootballToday came out with a ranking yesterday for the top class of 2023 defensive line recruits nationally, and Mount Si sophomore-to-be Heath Ozaeta made that list, ranked as the fifth best defensive tackle and 33rd best lineman overall in their rankings. As we have been telling you, he has received several high-profile college summer camp invitations, all of which are contingent on states lifting COVID-19 stay-at-home restrictions. Ozaeta on Twitter indicated he was “thankful and humbled” to be ranked so highly, and there is certainly more in store for him as the fall approaches.
So even though there’s nothing going on on the field or in the weight room for that matter as Mount Si’s weight room has, along with the entire school campus, remained closed since the Washington state school closures and stay-at-home orders were announced back in March, there is quite a bit going on in the recruiting front, that’s for sure, and it definitely gives Mount Si fans something to think about and talk about among their friends and neighbors in our community. Good stuff indeed.
A note from your editor about our future plans at the SVSJ
Good morning. Hope you all had a tremendous Memorial Day weekend. We have some news to announce today about the future of the Snoqualmie Valley Sports Journal.
The current COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting shutdown of youth and high school sports has, as you know, pretty much wiped everything out sans a story here and there about recruiting and local athletes making their college choices. This past weekend normally would have been a major transition weekend, out of the volleyball spring club schedule and high school spring sports, into the full summer baseball and softball club schedule. However, the shutdowns, in Washington and in other key states where major tournaments are held, have left the summer schedule pretty much bare and as such, we are not planning to cover summer sports this summer.
Further, with the uncertainty still very much out there regarding whether there will be a fall high school sports season, we are hopeful, but not very confident at this time, that there will be, in fact, a fall season. It is with that, and also because of a number of other reasons as well, that we regretfully announce that we will be ceasing publication of this blog and not providing coverage of 2020-21 high school sports. We know how much this news will be disappointing and devastating to a lot of you, the truth is it’s hurting your editor to write this, but we at this point do not see things changing enough to allow for us to feel comfortable continuing to cover local sports.
We want to thank all of the coaches, athletes, parents and fans who have come to trust our coverage over these many years of the blog – and before that, your editor’s coverage with the Valley Record newspaper. The names are too numerous to mention here, and we apologize for not mentioning them all, but your support has been very heartwarming to your editor over the years.
As you may know if you have watched the live webcasts with Mount Si High School principal John Belcher the last two weeks, there has been discussion about a potential senior recognition community parade on Snoqualmie Ridge to honor the class of 2020 which is slated to be held June 19. We intend on providing coverage of that, and that we believe will be our final item we will cover as a blog. There is always a possibility that things may change, so never say never, but until that time comes, we want to say thank you, and we hope to see you out on the field or on the court soon.