Inside The Huskies

UW Offers California WR, Who Might Make a Nice Catch

This player's calling card is his memorable one-handed catch.

Dan Raley

In this story:

In football talent-rich California, the high school players have all the competition they can hope for, plenty of nice stadiums, above all warm weather. 

The challenge is to get noticed.

What can you do to  get the college talent scouts to come back for a second look? Have the self-styled recruiting analysts write nice things about you? Set yourself apart from the other kids who do what you do?

For Logan Saldate, he has a photo that should be handed out like a business or a greeting card. 

The wide receiver from Palma High School in Salinas, California, near the Monterey Peninsula is shown hanging in the air, in a truly complex if not acrobatic position, with one red-gloved hand making a sensational grab.

Logan Saldate has a UW football offer.
Logan Saldate makes an impossible catch.  / Palma

No amount of video footage or conversation with the kid or his head coach can describe him any better than that

Sold.

On Tuesday, the University of Washington extended a scholarship offer to the 6-foot, 185-pound Saldate, coming off his sophomore season with the Palma Chieftains. He has an offer from California, as well.

Taking a deeper dive, the Huskies likely have found that Saldate was pressed into extended service in his first year and responded by becoming Palma's leading receiver with 35 catches for 520 yards and 6 touchdowns for a 7-4 team. 

He runs routes that are as precise as his hands are soft, a combination that made Steve Largent a Hall of Fame player in Seattle. 

He's fast, 10.94 over 100 meters fast, and has a 21-foot, 9-inch long jump this spring.

Logan Saldate and JaMarcus Shephard meet in January at the UW.
Logan Saldate and JaMarcus Shephard know each other.  / UW

Saldate, who took an unofficial visit to the UW in January, also seems to enjoy being in constant communication with Husky receivers coach JaMarcus Shephard. 

"I love coach Shephard," he told. "He has really great energy."

Yes, Shephard has that limitless enthusiasm, which is his calling card. 

For Saldate, it's the catch.

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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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