Inside The Huskies

Huskies, 3 Others Wait for SoCal LB Madden Faraimo's Decision

The defender has stretched out his recruitment to the end with sign day coming.

Dan Raley

Madden Faraimo has his college choices down to Notre Dame, Texas, USC and Washington.
Madden Faraimo has his college choices down to Notre Dame, Texas, USC and Washington. / SI

Madden Faraimo is a college football recruiting service nightmare. He's been cordial and responsive to those legions of analysts who seek him out regularly and desperately want to reveal what he's going to do, but told them nothing of substance.

With the new signing day just 12 days away, the 6-foot-3, 230-pound linebacker from JSerra Catholic High School in San Juan Capistrano, California, holds tightly onto his four options that haven't changed throughout the fall: Notre Dame, Texas, USC and Washington.

“I want to find the school for me and I don't have any intentions to flip or anything like that,' Faraimo has said repeatedly. "So I'm taking my time and I want to make sure that I get the clarity that I need.”

With an already filled-out frame and mature approach to the game, this designated 4-star player is considered as one of the top uncommitted Class of 2025 players nationwide.

Faraimo will attend the USC-Notre Dame football game on Nov. 30 at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum and will have up to four days to make up his mind if he wants to settle everything by the coming deadline.

Tne analysts are guessing he will choose either Notre Dame or USC because he is waiting for the rivalry game to come and go.

Yet Faraimo continues to offer the following refrain, "Honestly, right now, I’ll be comfortable going to any of my top four schools.”

Faraimo recently completed his senior season with JSerra Catholic -- which counts former Husky centers Nick Harris and Luke Wattenberg as alums --and has spent two years in Orange County after playing as a sophomore for Cathedral Catholic in San Diego. He been hurt at times in his career, wearing a club much of this past season for a 6-5 team.

In his high school career, he averaged nearly 10 tackles per game, piling up 113 for JSerra Catholic this past season, with a high of 16 against Lincoln.

As people try to guess where he's headed, with no particular evidence, they write that Faraimo is a Notre Dame lean. Others suggest USC will land him, even though Lincoln Riley is dealing with a 5-5 season, hasn't been able to match donor expectations since leaving Oklahoma and continues to have issues fielding a dominant defense.

The Huskies, of course, are in great need of linebackers for 2025 and beyond with seniors Carson Bruener and Alphonzo Tuputala using up their eligibility soon. Jedd Fisch's staff no doubt is telling this SoCal sensation he could line up next to another one who has done well from his neighborhood in Khmori House.

What's universally agreed upon is Faraimo is an advanced player who should make an immediate impact wherever he goes.

“He’s a ready-now player,” JSerra Catholic coach Victor Santa Cruz said. “He could start for so many college teams right now.”

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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