Inside The Huskies

Laying Down the Law: Huskies Get 4-Star WR Commitment

Chris Lawson from Archbishop Riordan in San Francisco pledges to UW.

Dan Raley

Chris Lawson from San Francisco was set to make his college choice on Sunday.
Chris Lawson from San Francisco was set to make his college choice on Sunday. / Riordan

Chris Lawson is a slender and speedy pass-catcher from San Francisco, who already wears a purple jersey and won't have to change that color scheme once he moves to the next level. While he currently pulls on No. 4, some people have suggested he might be even more comfortable running around with 11 on his chest.

On Sunday night, the 6-foot-1, 185-pound Lawson, a 4-star recruit from Archbishop Riordan High School, committed to the University of Washington football program, choosing Jedd Fisch's Huskies over Oregon and California.

He comes with heady credentials, according to his Riordan coach Adhir Ravapati, who worked with NFL-bound Troy Franklin, Jordan Mims and Mekhi Blackmon at his previous stop at Menlo-Atherton High in the South Bay.

"He reminds me of Jalen McMillan," Ravapati recently told Mitch Stephens from Sports Illustrated's High School site.

Wearing No. 11 for the UW, McMillan just concluded his college football career by catching 164 passes for 2,143 yards and 17 touchdowns, which helped turn the Fresno, California, native into a third-round NFL draft pick, and the 92nd player selected, for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Lawson, who played for Foothills High in Pleasanton, California, as a freshman before transferring to Archbishop Riordan, will enter his senior season with 167 career catches for 2,534 yards and 32 scores.

He becomes the 21st Husky pledge in this recruiting cycle and the fourth wide receiver in the mix, joining Raiden Vines-Bright from Tempe, Arizona and IMG in Florida; Dezmen Roebuck from Marana, Arizona; and Deji Ajose from another Bay Area Catholic school, Oakland's Bishop O'Dowd.

"Chris is just a difference-maker who honestly could play either wide receiver or cornerback at the next level and be an All-American type of player," Ravpati said. 

Chris Lawson has athleticism that reminds others of Jalen McMillan.
Chris Lawson has athleticism that reminds others of Jalen McMillan. / HS SI

This past season for a 7-4 Riordan team, Lawson caught 68 passes for 969 yards and 11 touchdowns and, in showing off his versatility as a cornerback, he finished with 26 tackles, 3 interceptions and a pair of forced fumbles.

Heavily recruited, he holds 23 scholarship offers, which include five from the SEC in Arkansas, Auburn, Florida, Missouri and Ole Miss, as well as from three other Big Ten members in Penn State, UCLA and USC.

Lawson, who has 4.47-second 40-yard dash speed, becomes the sixth 4-star recruit for the Huskies, joining linebackers Zaydrius Rainey Sale and Jonathan Epperson, tight ends Vander Ploog and Baron Naone and offensive lineman Champ Taulealea.

"With the Washington staff, there is a lot of NFL experience and they really showed me that they want to get as many players as they can to the NFL," Lawson told 247Sports.

It would make sense. Jalen McMillan found his way to the pros in April after playing for the previous Husky coaching staff and Lawson resembles him they say.

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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