Inside The Huskies

Huskies Find Their Quarterback, Receive Commitment from Dakotan

The UW pulls pledge from Lincoln Kienholz in Kalen DeBoer's home state.

Dan Raley

In this story:

Lincoln Kienholz grew up in South Dakota's state capital of Pierre, which is 200 miles from Kalen DeBoer's hometown.

Soon the quarterback and the coach will share Montlake together, two time zones from their roots, after the 6-foot, 185-pound Kienholz on Wednesday offered his oral commitment to the University of Washington football program, the Huskies' 14th overall.

One Dakota guy to another.

Kienholz joined the wave surrounding a fast-moving UW recruiting class that's now ranked No. 17 nationally by 247Sports after he chose the Huskies over Wisconsin, Wyoming and North Dakota State — all schools with reputations for producing NFL quarterbacks.

DeBoer has said the quarterback typically is his most important player, the trusted triggerman for his spread offense, and he pursued Kansas recruit Avery Johnson, Californian Aidan Chiles and Kienholz to run it.

Chiles chose Oregon State, leaving this Husky QB recruitment between Johnson and Kienholz. Johnson will announce his decision on July 5, and it appears he will end up with local Kansas State.

Kienholz will come West.

He joins a UW recruiting haul that also includes Californians in linebackers in Deven Bryant and Jordan Whitney, running back Tybo Rogers, wide receivers Rashid Williams and Keith Reynolds, safety Vincent Holmes, defensive tackle Sua Lefotu and offensive tackle Elishah Jackett; edge rusher Anthony James II and cornerback Diesel Gordon, both from Texas; offensive tackle Zach Henning from Colorado; and center Landon Hatchett and edge rusher Jacob Lane from Washington.

Kienholz's decision came shortly after Hatchett, the guy he could be taking snaps from in seasons down the road, announced his intentions.

Lincoln and Landon.

Playing for T.F. Riggs and a team nicknamed the Governors, Kienholz heads into his senior year with career passing totals of 318 completions in 577 attempts for 5,678 yards and 58 touchdowns, with 23 interceptions.

This past season for a 10-2 team, the mobile QB threw for 37 scores and ran for 12.

The Huskies offered Kienholz on April 19 and this past weekend hosted him on his official visit after he had seen his other choices up close and essentially sealed the deal.

There's a winning element involved between coach and QB, let alone geographical roots.

While DeBoer was responsible for winning three NAIA national championships for South Dakota's University of Sioux Falls, his alma mater, Kienholz has guided his Riggs team to two of its five consecutive state titles. 

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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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