Thrilled to be a Husky
Published 8:39 pm Wednesday, February 2, 2011
On high school football fields, Dexter Charles stood out. That tends to happen when you are a surprisingly quick, agile 6-foot-5, 280-pound lineman, like Charles is.
Now that his prep career is over, Charles — a Stanwood High School senior — is headed for big-time college football
, where he’ll be surrounded by equally massive, gifted athletes.
“At that (NCAA Division-I) level, there’s going to be lots of kids who are just as physical and just as good as he is,” Stanwood High football coach Aaron Cupp said.
But the hard-working Charles has what it takes to keep rising above the rest, Cupp added: “He’s immensely physically talented, but he has a desire to be great. That’s where that hunger to learn the game and to develop all of those skills to make him a successful player (will pay off).”
That’s exactly what the University of Washington is counting on.
Charles signed an NCAA National Letter of Intent with the Huskies football program on Wednesday. It was the first day of the signing period for several sports, including football, soccer, cross country and track and field. By signing, Charles and a few dozen other student-athletes from local high schools formally accepted athletic financial aid.
After receiving a scholarship offer from the UW in January 2010 and verbally committing to the Huskies in mid-April, Charles was ecstatic about cementing his college plans. He signed at 7:32 a.m. at Stanwood High during a ceremony that included two other college-bound Spartans athletes.
“It’ll be incredible. I can’t wait,” Charles said, imagining how it will feel to play for Washington. “I’m going to work as hard as I can to get some playing time next year, hopefully.”
Recruited to play offensive tackle, Charles said he received offers from several other Pacific-10 Conference programs: the University of Oregon, the University of Southern California, the University of Arizona, the University of California, Berkeley, and Washington State University. With the exception of WSU, all of those offers were made after UW’s.
In the end, however, the only official recruiting trip Charles made was to Washington.
“When it came down to it, I really considered visiting other schools,” Charles said, “but I had already given my word and I didn’t want to go back on that.”
Washington players and coaches felt like family right away, the Associated Press All-State Class 4A First Team lineman said: “I felt comfortable down there. They’re going to push me to be the best I can be, and it’s so close to home. It’s the perfect distance for me.”
Joining Charles at Stanwood’s ceremony were Minna Fields, a distance runner who signed with Lipscomb University’s cross country and track programs, and Matt Roe, who actually signed with the University of Nevada, Las Vegas men’s swimming program in the fall but celebrated his college plans alongside Charles and Fields on the stage in Stanwood’s Performing Arts Center.
In addition to Charles, another area athlete signed with the UW football program: Archbishop Murphy High defensive lineman Tani Tupou (6-2, 265 pounds) officially joined the Huskies. He signed at 7:13 a.m., according to a tweet by Huskies head coach Steve Sarkisian, and was the first Washington signing announced by Sarkisian via Twitter on Wednesday.
Selected to play for the 2011 U.S. Under-19 National Team, Tupou, a Marysville resident, was in Austin, Texas, for Wednesday’s Team USA vs. The World game. He was The Herald’s 2010 All-Area Defensive Player of the Year and helped Archbishop Murphy advance to the 2A state championship game.
Here are details about several more local signings. (See the related list for a roundup of all area signers.)
At least 10 female soccer players sign
The number of local girls soccer players who signed on Wednesday reached double digits.
• Four of the 10 reported signers were from Edmonds-Woodway High: Carlin Huegli (University of Central Florida), Justine Ponton, (Seattle Pacific University), Sophie Judd (Westmont College) and Kiana Tipton (University of Incarnate Word).
n In Granite Falls, childhood friends and longtime teammates Katie Cashman and Kelsey Carlson accepted D-I athletic scholarships.
Cashman, a center midfielder, signed with Eastern Washington University and Carlson, a goalkeeper, signed with the University of Montana. After playing on the same teams since they were 6 years old, the close friends (who said they’re more like sisters) will be rivals in the Big Sky Conference.
“Thirteen years of hard work finally paid off,” said Cashman, who started playing soccer at age 4.
• Archbishop Murphy’s Caroline Brawner, The Herald’s 2010 All-Area Girls Soccer Player of the Year, signed with Colgate University. Last month she was named a 2A All-State First Team midfielder.
• Three Glacier Peak High soccer players — two girls and one boy — signed. Midfielder Brooke Gilbert and defender Malloy Leahy signed with the University of Texas and the University of Portland, respectively, and goalkeeper Andrew Weakly signed with the Villanova University men’s soccer program.
Mike Cane: mcane@heraldnet.com. Check out the prep sports blog Double Team at cmg-northwest2.go-vip.net/heraldnet/doubleteam and follow Cane on Twitter at MikeCaneHerald.
