Inside The Huskies

Huskies Revisit 2024 Arizona Edge Rusher with Another Offer

Elijah Rushing first drew the interest of Jimmy Lake's staff by accident.

Dan Raley

Elijah Rushing, a perfectly named football player for raising havoc, will forever find himself at a forgettable crossroad in University of Washington recruiting efforts.

Six months ago, Jimmy Lake and his staff headed for Tucson, Arizona, during a bye week to watch a 5-star tight end play and they came away raving about a 6-foot-5, 226-pound sophomore edge rusher on the other team.

That was Rushing, who received a scholarship offer shortly thereafter from Lake, his third overall as college programs began to find out about him. 

A month later, Lake was fired for shoving one of his players during the UW-Oregon game. 

Rushing's Husky offer was left twisting in the wind of all the commotion swirling around Lake in Seattle. He was the last recruit to actively involve the suddenly ex-coach.

Yet this was not the end of his UW football recruitment.

Coming full circle, Kalen DeBoer's new Husky staff this week re-offered Rushing, who posted the news on social media. 

A lot has happened to the young Salpointe Catholic High standout and Class of 2024 member since the Huskies joined Arizona and Arizona State as those proposing scholarships to. him.

Rushing now holds 18 offers, with Georgia, Miami, Michigan, Notre Dame, Oregon and USC bidding for him, as well.

What everyone sees is this kid with an amazing 81-inch wing span who finished his sophomore season with 88 tackles, including 11 tackles for loss and 7.5 sacks, plus 6 quarterback hurries and a pair of fumble recoveries.

Lake is no longer around this talent chase, but Rushing is, ready to play two more high school seasons and no doubt pile up a lot more scholarship offers. 

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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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