Washington Huskies: Mike Hopkins looking ahead to 2019
By Paul Taylor
As Mike Hopkins looks to turn around the fortunes of the Washington Huskies, he already has a focus on the future with two offers to players in the class of 2019.
New head coach Mike Hopkins has a lot on his plate, as he aims to revive a Washington Huskies program coming off one of their worst seasons in school history. It doesn’t help that Markelle Fultz left after just one season and the highly-rated Michael Porter Jr. asked to be released from his letter of intent after the firing of Lorenzo Romar, no matter how much both moves were expected beforehand.
However, despite the immediate challenge which lies in front of Hopkins, he still has at least one eye on the long-term future. In particular, he is already looking toward 2019.
As reported by Kyle Waltos of Washington.247sports.com, the Huskies have been busy on the recruiting trail recently. As a result, Hopkins and his coaching staff made a couple of offers late last week, to two players from the class of 2019.
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The first offer was made to Wendell Moore, who is a shooting forward out of North Carolina. Waltos goes on to write that he is a four-star recruit and the 40th-ranked player in the class of 2019.
As a result, it is no surprise the 6 foot 5 Moore has received offers from several notable schools. Along with Washington, this includes North Carolina, Florida, Florida State, Maryland and Hopkins’ previous team in Syracuse.
The other offer was made to Joseph Girard, a point guard from Glen Falls, New York. Unlike Moore, he has yet to be ranked by 247sports.com.
Regardless, the 6 foot 1 Girard has still been gaining interest from schools. Apart from Washington, he has also received offers from Penn State and BYU.
Overall, while it was a shame to see Romar get fired, it was probably the right move — and time — for him to go. It remains to be seen what the future holds under Hopkins, but at least he has had the best possible training under five-time NCAA Division I champions Jim Boeheim.
Next: Why did Noah Dickerson reverse his decision?
What are your early impressions of Hopkins? How confident are you in his ability to get the Huskies program back on track? Share your thoughts in the comments section.