Inside The Huskies

Decision Coming Soon, Bay Area Receiver Has UW Among Finalists

Cynai Thomas could follow former teammate Chris Lawson to Montlake.

Dan Raley

Receiver recruit Cynai Thomas stands with UW coaches Caleb Wilson and Kevin Cummings.
Receiver recruit Cynai Thomas stands with UW coaches Caleb Wilson and Kevin Cummings. / UW

Cynai Thomas could choose the family route. Or reunite with a high school teammate. Or do something entirely different and go play in the desert.

Regardless, the Bay Area wide receiver will pick a college destination on March 16 with five options in front of him -- Arizona State, Boise State, Oregon State, Utah and Washington -- he revealed on Tuesday to Andrew Nemec of High School on SI.

Lanky and athletic at 6-foot-3 and 165 pounds, Thomas hails from the same Archbishop Riordan High School in San Francisco that sent fellow pass-catcher Chris Lawson to the Huskies as part of the incoming freshman class.

In fact, with Lawson sidelined by an injury much of this past season, Thomas had to step up as a junior and carry more of a receiving load with 46 catches for 713 yards and 12 touchdowns for a 7-5 Riordan team.

The Huskies seem more than willing to take Riordan receivers in back to back classes and stand as good a chance as any to gain the services of this 3-star player.

"Washington was a great experience," Thomas told Nemec. "Washington is beautiful and their stadium is amazing. Their fanbase is always awesome. Coach [Kevin Cummings] is a great dude who knows his stuff about wide receivers. I’ve built a great relationship with him and he’s one of my favorite people."

Yet Thomas also is looking at Oregon State, where his brother Skyler is a starting conrerback coming off a junior season in which he led the Beavers in tackles with 86.

His sibling, however, will be a college senior this coming season while the younger Thomas finishes up his high school career, so there isn't a ready opportunity for them to play together.

As for Arizona State, Thomas finds himself considering a program undergoing a renaissance, with Kenny Dillingham quickly rebuilding the Sun Devils into a playoff team from the Big 12.

If there is any hint to what the Riordan recruit might do, he was one of the first to congratulate Lawson after his teammate committed to the UW last summer.

"My brother, congratulations," Thomas posted. "You worked so hard for this."

For the latest UW football and basketball news, go to si.com/college/washington

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Dan Raley
DAN RALEY

Dan Raley has worked for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, as well as for MSN.com and Boeing, the latter as a global aerospace writer. His sportswriting career spans four decades and he's covered University of Washington football and basketball during much of that time. In a working capacity, he's been to the Super Bowl, the NBA Finals, the MLB playoffs, the Masters, the U.S. Open, the PGA Championship and countless Final Fours and bowl games.

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