Aldrich loves latest visit

After Honolulu (Hawaii) Kamehameha defensive end Kalani Aldrich visited Oregon back in early November, it looked like the talented rush end was destined to be a Duck. Now that Aldrich has visited Washington this past weekend, things look a little different.

Aldrich, 6-7, 240 pounds raved about his visit to Oregon (Nov. 3) saying he thought a lot about committing but wanted to take one more trip just to have something to compare the Ducks with. So did the Huskies stack up?

"Oh man, I had a great visit," Aldrich said. "I got in late Thursday night and just went to bed and then Friday was a big day. That's when I took a campus tour, met a lot of the players and my family was able to sit down and have a nice conversation with Coach Willingham.

"I also met up with my host, Brandon Ala, who I've known for awhile. He went to my high school and since he was a few years older than me, I always looked up to him as a big brother. He showed me around the campus and it was just great hanging out with him and the other players on the team.

"My family and I also really enjoyed talking with Coach Willingham. He's a high morals guy with a lot of integrity and believes in a lot of the same things we do so we all really hit it off well with him.

"I think I was most impressed with how he operates his team. He likes hard working players with high character. He's a man of integrity and that's how he runs his team and I really respect that about him.

"Saturday was the academic day where we ate breakfast with a lot of the professors there. We met some of the faculty and talked about what areas I might decide to go in. Later on in the day, I met up with Brandon again and we hung out with some of the other Polynesian players. They have a lot of Hawaii boys and I felt really comfortable with all of them.

"We played video games, shot some pool and a couple of us played the ukulele. That was cool, we just sat back and played some songs from back home. That night, we had dinner at the stadium and I got pretty close with Coach Hart and coach Tormey, I felt a definite connection with both guys.

"Overall, it was a great visit. In comparing it with Oregon, they were both great but different. Oregon was more flashy but Washington felt like home. I was so comfortable there and my parents really liked it a lot too. I've decided to narrow my choices to these two schools and I would like to make my decision this week.

"Coach Tormey is coming over for a visit on Tuesday and I'll probably talk to Coach Greatwood at Oregon again as well. I want to take the next few days to let the emotion of the visit wear away and then talk things over with my family. After the home visits, I should be able to decide where the best place is for me and make my commitment."