Blue-chip WR chooses to play for Dawgs

The immediate future begins one week from today.

But for the University of Washington football team, the long-term future brought another victory on Friday night.

The Huskies landed another one of the state’s top football recruits when Skyline senior wide receiver Kasen Williams, the son of former UW player Aaron Williams, made a verbal commitment to the school. The younger Williams is ranked the No. 13 wide receiver in the country, and the fifth-best recruit in the state, by Rivals.com.

According to Rivals, Williams chose the Huskies over Florida, Notre Dame, LSU and Cal.

He joins a class that already includes verbal commitments from two top-40 players in the Rivals rankings: running back Brendon Bigelow of Fresno (No. 32) and tight end Austin Seferian-Jenkins of Gig Harbor (No. 36).

The Huskies are also reportedly in the thick of the hunt for Arizona high school quarterback Brett Hundley, who is generally regarded as one of the best quarterbacks on the West Coast. UW’s top competition for Hundley could come from UCLA and former Husky coach Rick Neuheisel, whose oldest son Jerry is one of the top senior quarterbacks in the Los Angeles area.

UW’s list of verbal commitments for the Class of 2011, according to Rivals, is now at 17. Among that group is Stanwood offensive lineman Dexter Charles and Archbishop Murphy defensive end Taniela Tupou. Nine of the 17 commitments are from players from the state of California.

Williams made his announcement during a Friday night press conference.

As for the 2010 Huskies, they’ll open their season next Saturday at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah.

BYU’s freshman quarterback, Jake Heaps, threw passes to Williams at Skyline last fall. Heaps is expected to split time at quarterback with junior Riley Nelson next Saturday.