Qualls sticks with UW

Dawgman.com spoke Monday with Petaluma (Calif.) Casa Grande Head Coach Trent Herzog, who clarified the situation surrounding one of his players - Elijah Qualls - and the possibility of taking official visits to other schools. The 6-foot-2, 292-pound athlete has been verbally committed to UW since June, but programs like UCLA and Nebraska have been calling and enquiring about availability.

"Elijah has said that he's 100 percent Washington; they've been recruiting him for over a year now," Herzog said. "His main focus right now is staying committed to staying on track and being NCAA-eligible and that he can get up there in early summer."

There was talk of Qualls visiting a couple of other schools, but he decided after talking to Herzog and the academic people at Casa Grande Monday that he will only take his one official visit to Washington. According to Herzog, it was best for Qualls to continue to stay on track with the academic program that has him currently eligible and NCAA-approved.

Qualls is set to take his official visit to Montlake this weekend, and he's expecting to see Washington Head Coach Steve Sarkisian at his school Tuesday. But there was some confusion over how he was expected to handle the rest of the recruiting process leading up to signing day on February 6th.

"I just went to him and I said, 'Are you going to take any more trips?', and he said, 'I'm thinking about it. I talked to Nebraska last night and I've been talking to UCLA'. I just asked him, 'Are you 100 percent committed to Washington?', and he said, 'Yes.' So I told him, 'Let's not waste these guys' time if all you're doing is taking free trips. You've taken plenty of unofficial visits and with the all-star games…

"It's time where he's at academically that's where the focus is. He has study halls and he has labs that he has to complete on the weekends, and he's not going to complete those labs if he takes all these official visits.

"He's on track to graduate and is NCAA-approved. I told him, 'This week is your week - you go up there (to UW) and have a great time this weekend. But once you come home it's all school. He's committed and he's going to do it."

Elijah Qualls Scout.com profile