Inside The Huskies

Huskies Offer 9th Mater Dei Player in 9 Months, This One a Corner

Chuck McDonald III is a sophomore starter for the defending national champion.

Dan Raley

In this story:

Some say there's a top-flight cornerback prospect in every Southern California neighborhood. Like McDonald's restaurants.

For those who prefer the shorthand, call them Mickey D's.

There's Trent McDuffie, the former University of Washington standout now in the pros.

And now Chuck McDonald III, who's holding a recent Husky offer.

This latest candidate is a lanky sophomore from Mater Dei High School in Santa Ana, California, a Class of 2025 prospect just getting started, someone who now is being pursued by Kalen DeBoer's recruiters.

 

Too young to be rated, McDonald is one of nine players from Mater Dei who over the past nine months have received UW offers, including fellow cornerback Daryus Dixson, also a 2025 recruit.

This is what happens when you finish 12-0 and win a high school national championship.

Last year, the 6-foot-1, 180-pound McDonald appeared in just one varsity game for Mater Dei and played for the school's freshman football team, but he's a full-fledged varsity starter as a 10th-grader now for a 5-0 team eyeing another perfect run.

In five games this fall, all wins, McDonald has collected 12 tackles, a tackle for loss, two pass break-ups and a blocked punt. 

In a 43-20 victory over Corona Centennial, he was targeted three times and didn't permit a completion, chalking up his pair of  PBUs.

As the Twitter videos show, McDonald runs well in coverage and trains as hard as anyone, trying to be great. He's gained a reputation making the rounds at camps and in 7-on-7 competitions.

He holds seven scholarship offers so far, from Arizona, Colorado, Colorado State, Florida State, Oregon, USC and the Huskies.

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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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