Washington Huskies: Who is Ali Gaye?

As Ali Gaye makes a verbal commitment to the Washington Huskies, what kind of impact can they expect from the three-star recruit?

Monday proved to be an interesting day for the Washington Huskies and their fans. It started off badly, with the news that they had lost five-star recruit Marlon Tuipulotu to Pac-12 rivals, USC.

However, the Huskies were able to recover, as Tuopilotu’s place was effectively filled by fellow defensive lineman, Ali Gaye. The three-star recruit took to Twitter to confirm the news of his verbal commitment to the Huskies.

After thanking various people, including his parents, Gaye wrote: “With excitement, I am very happy to say that I will be committing (to) and attending school (at) the University of Washington, to further my education and my football career.”

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While most scouts don’t rate Gaye as highly as Tuipulotu, he is still an intriguing prospect. For one thing, he has tremendous size, standing at 6-foot-6 and weighing between 250 and 260 lbs.

Rivals.com rate the Edmonds, Washington native as the 27th-best defensive end in the country, while ranking him at number eight in the state. Meanwhile, 247sports.com rank him only slightly lower, at 28 and nine respectively.

ESPN gives the product of Edmonds-Woodway High School an overall rating of 77. However, no matter how you break it down, there was enough interest for him to receive 12 offers in total, including one from the Washington State Cougars.

Gaye only visited two teams, with his first trip to Arizona State taking place on January 13th. This was followed by his official meeting with Chris Petersen and the Huskies during the past weekend.

Moving forward, there will be some discussion over the best course of action for the Huskies to take, in order to maximize Gaye’s potential. Options include redshirting him and moving him to defensive tackle.

As reported by Adam Jude of The Seattle Times, here is the full list of the UW Class of 2017:

• Salvon Ahmed: ATH, 6-0, 186, Juanita HS
• Henry Bainivalu: OL, 6-6, 295, Skyline HS, Sammamish
• Hunter Bryant: TE, 6-3, 240, Eastside Catholic HS, Sammamish
• Terrell Bynum: WR, 6-1, 177, St. John Bosco, Bellflower, Calif.
• Alex Cook: WR, 6-2, 180, Sheldon HS, Sacramento
• Ali Gaye: DE, 6-6, 260, Edmonds-Woodway HS, Edmonds
• Jake Haener: QB, 6-1, 188, Monte Vista HS, Danville, Calif.
• Ty Jones: WR, 6-4, 195, Provo HS, Provo, Utah
• Brandon McKinney: S, 6-0, 180, Lutheran HS, Orange, Calif.
• Elijah Molden: CB, 5-11, 185, West Linn HS, West Linn, Ore.
• Ariel Ngata: LB, 6-4, 210, Folsom HS, Folsom, Calif.
• Cole Norgaard: OL, 6-5, 271, St. Mary’s HS, Stockton, Calif.
• Cade Otton: LB, 6-5, 223, Tumwater HS, Tumwater
• Keith Taylor: CB, 6-2, 180, Servite HS, Anaheim, Calif.
• Joe Tryon: LB, 6-5, 240, Hazen HS, Renton
• Joel Whitford: P, 6-3, 200, Santa Barbara (Calif.) JC; Neerim South, Victoria, Australia

Signing day is February 1st. However, Whitford has already signed and enrolled at UW.

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How frustrated are you by Tuopilotu’s decision to pick USC over UW? Further, how confident are you in Gaye’s ability to — for all intents and purposes — replace him? Share your thoughts in the comments section.