Commitment Spotlight: Marcus Washington

Texas and particularly Stan Drayton have been putting in a lot of work to get their foot in the door in the St. Louis area, and their efforts may finally be paying dividends. The Longhorns managed to land linebacker Ayodele Adeoye during the last recruiting cycle, and went a little further out and landed defensive end Daniel Carson as well. Drayton also dropped off a stack of offers at local powerhouse Trinity Catholic — the home of new Longhorn commit Marcus Washington.

Washington was one of four players at Trinity Catholic to be extended an offer from Texas last year along Mookie Cooper, Shammond Cooper, and Isaiah Williams. While Williams is committed to Illinois and never really considered Texas, both Mookie and Shammond are still heavily considering Texas. Washington recently took an official visit to Texas for the USC game, and both he and his father came away raving about the Longhorns.

At one point it looked like Washington was going to stay closer to home and side with either Ohio State or the home team Missouri Tigers, but the Longhorns did a great job recruiting him and managed to seal the deal when they got him on campus.

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Pros:

• Possesses good size at 6’2, 191 pounds. Has a frame that will allow him to fill out well.
• Does a great job of catching the ball with his hands. Really snatches the ball out of the air.
• Displays great ball skills.
• Shows craftiness with routes and an ability to get separation from defenders.
• Is elusive after the catch and shows an ability to gain yards after catch. Shows tackle-breaking ability and fights for every yard.
• Tall, long strider as a runner. Eats up real estate quickly.
• Plays the game aggressively and confidently. Loves to compete.
• Always finds a way to get open. Will move the chains at the next level.
• Has an ability to be utilized in multiple ways. Took snaps in the wildcat in high school. [/one-half-first]

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Cons:

• Lacks staight-line speed. Won’t threaten a defense vertically.
• Runs a little bit high and upfront, but is easily correctable in college.
• Sometimes displays too much confidence. Things like throwing the ball at a defender after scoring will not cut it in college.
• Hard to predict his ceiling. Could end up being great, but hard to know how much better he will get in college. [/one-half]

Summary

Marcus Washington is a four-year varsity starter for Trinity Catholic in St. Louis, Missouri and is also a two-year starter at both outside wide receiver and safety. Washington is viewed long-term as a wide receiver prospect, but that hasn’t stopped him from putting up great numbers on both sides of the ball. Washington tallied 21 offensive touchdowns along with 6 defensive interceptions as an underclassmen and he also chipped in with some forced fumbles. I will be curious to see if he is able to sustain those numbers as an upperclassman. Washington is a possession receiver that lacks straight-line speed to stretch the defense vertically but makes up for it in other ways. Washington is very crafty with his movements in his routes, and is consistently finding ways to get separation. On top of that, he does a great job of tracking the football in the air and making adjustments.

One of Washington’s strongest assets is his hands and his ball skills. Washington shows off a strong set of hands on tape, and he really attacks the ball. You don’t see a bunch of body catching from him on tape and he shows off a very good catch radius. After the catch Washington shows good elusiveness and good tackle-breaking ability, and is capable producing a good amount of yards after the catch. Washington has the makeup of a player who is going to be a quarterback’s best friend when the offense needs to move the chains. He’s not going to blow you away in shorts, but the more you watch him, the more you appreciate him as a player.

Final Verdict

If I’m being honest, the first time through Washington left me a little underwhelmed, but as I worked back through the tape I came away feeling better about him. He’s not going to test off the charts, but he’s a guy that I believe does his talking when the pads come on.

Washington plays the game aggressively and confidently — something any team wants out of a guy who will plug into the outside receiver position. I don’t think his ceiling is super high like some the blue chip wide receiver recruits you will come across, but I think he has a pretty solid floor and will end up being at minimum a solid contributor as a collegiate player.

In the long run, picking up Washington’s commitment can only help Texas’ standing with his teammate Mookie Cooper. Texas was already in really good shape with Cooper, but you can never have enough aces up your sleeve when you are recruiting players of Cooper’s caliber. With Washington on board now, I am now curious to see how the Texas staff tweaks their recruiting focus with the players they are still pursuing.