Inside The Huskies

Huskies Tap Bakersfield for DeBoer's First 2023 Commit

Running back Tybo Tylin Rogers played for former UW standout Rashaan Shehee.

Dan Raley

Running back Tybo Tylin Rogers became the first University of Washington 2023 recruiting commitment on Monday night as the Huskies resumed mining Bakersfield, California, for football talent.

Rogers is a 5-foot-11, 180-pound speedster from Bakersfield High School who played most of this past season for Drillers interim coach Rashaan Shehee, the former Husky standout (1994-97) and Kansas City Chiefs running back. 

Nearly three decades ago, Shehee became a sought-after recruit across town at Bakersfield's Foothills High School and went from there to the UW and the NFL.

Husky safety Cameron Williams, a part-time starter for the past three seasons, also hails from Bakersfield High.

Rogers is one of nearly 100 recruits who have received UW scholarship offers since early December when Kalen DeBoer took over as coach — and the first one to orally commit to the Huskies for the Class of 2023, which is non-binding until he signs a national letter of intent.

No surprise, the former Fresno State football coach has landed a player from his previous central California footprint, with Bakersfield just 110 miles away from Fresno.

Rogers only recently visited and received a scholarship offer from UCLA. He holds 14 offers overall, with USC, Arizona, California, Colorado, Oregon State, Utah, Washington State, UNLV, San Jose State, San Diego State, Fresno State and Boston College among his other suitors. 

During a turbulent junior season, in which Bakersfield coach Michael Stewart was fired three games in and replaced by Shehee, Rogers excelled at all times.

He withstood all of the distractions to rush 111 times for 1,246 yards and 10 touchdowns, and haul in 31 passes for 614 yards and 6 scores, finishing with 17 TDs in all with a kickoff return that went the distance.

Rogers proved resilient in many ways, overcoming a severe ankle sprain and leg cramps, to snap off a 31-yard scoring run in the Drillers' 21-14 playoff win over Frontier. Bakersfield won three of four postseason games to finish 6-6.

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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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