Inside The Huskies

Huskies Lose Again to Oregon As Portland Prospect Flips to Ducks

Zac Stascausky went from Minnesota to Washington to his home-state school with pledges.

Dan Raley

Zac Stascausky flipped from Minnesota to Washington to Oregon.
Zac Stascausky flipped from Minnesota to Washington to Oregon. / Dan Brood

Zac Stascausky seemingly was the high school football recruit who few of the big schools knew much about early on -- and then everyone found about him.

Six months ago, the 6-foot-6, 280-pound offensive tackle from Portland's Central Catholic High School took his best offer and committed to Minnesota.

Two months later, the University of Washington got wise to this notably light-on-his-feet big man and flipped him, becoming his next-best best offer and an Aug. 6 commit.

And yet this recruiting story did not end there, with Stascausky on Sunday flipping once more and committing to home state Oregon, such is the highly mobile state of college football these days, where commitments are anything but that.

Clearly from all of this, Stascausky -- considered by recruiting analyst Andrew Nemec from SI's high school network as the top player in the state of Oregon -- is a talent.

Now a 4-star prospect, he left late offers from Georgia and Michigan on the table.

While players flipping to Oregon are nothing new, Stacausky had more incentive than others to drop everything for the Ducks. He had a family connection to the school.

“Growing up, I’ve always been an Oregon fan," Stascausky told HighSchoolonSI. "My grandfather went there, my mom went there, my sister goes there. My grandpa was a long-time fan with posters on the wall. He passed away last year. I wish he could’ve seen it all happen. That was always my dream as a kid and what he wanted for me. I wish he could’ve seen it, for sure.” 

The Huskies seemed to know this all along and at one point had six offensive linemen committed for the Class of 2025.

Stascausky was the second player to leave a UW commitment behind for the Ducks, joining tight end Vander Ploog.

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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