Highly touted recruit asks for release from UW commitment
Published 1:30 am Friday, August 3, 2018
By Adam Jude
The Seattle Times
One of the most touted recruits ever to sign with the Huskies has asked for his release from his National Letter of Intent.
Ale Kaho, a five-star linebacker who signed with Washington last December, has made a formal request through the NCAA to be released from his NLI, a family member told The Seattle Times on Thursday afternoon.
Kaho was in Seattle for six weeks this summer but was unable to participate in the Huskies’ formal offseason training program because he still had one high-school class to complete before he could enroll at UW, according to a source close to the team.
Two members of Kaho’s family, an aunt and an uncle, died suddenly in July. Kaho flew home to Reno, Nevada for their memorial services and has remained there. Family members were worried about Kaho’s health after he apparently lost some 20 pounds while in Seattle.
Kaho’s parents are also going through a divorce, putting a strain on the entire family, one of Kaho’s family members said in an interview.
“He had so much stuff going on right now,” said the family member, who asked for anonymity. “Football is not even our concern right now. He does not look right. He does not act right. He’s not the same bubbly kid we know.”
Kaho, listed at 6-foot-1 and 218 pounds, was ranked by 247Sports as the No. 21 overall recruit in the nation for the Class of 2018, the No. 1 inside linebacker in the nation and the No. 3 overall recruit in the West. He signed an NLI with the Huskies during the early signing period last December, the only five-star recruit to ever do so during Chris Petersen’s 13 years as a head coach.
“We are 100 percent Dawgs here. We are the biggest UW fans ever,” the family member said. “But right now UW is out the window because we are just trying to get him back to eating and working out. … To see him like this, we have put football on the back burner right now.”
Petersen on Thursday morning acknowledged Kaho would not be at the Huskies’ first fall-camp practice Friday, saying the linebacker was dealing with family issues. But Petersen did not provide any details beyond that.
Reached Thursday evening, a UW spokesman had no comment on Kaho’s release request.
