New team involved with Hawkins
There is a new player in the recruitment of Chris Hawkins.
Washington has emerged in the top three for the Rancho Cucamonga, Calif., four-star cornerback after he talked with the coaches recently and Hawkins said this past weekend that he's planning to visit with the Huskies for their upcoming junior day.
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They have replaced Notre Dame in his top three and so Washington along with USC and Stanford top Hawkins' new list.
"I just got off the phone with Washington so my top three now is Stanford, USC and Washington," Hawkins said.
"They recruit the toughest out of all the schools and they make me feel wanted more than any other school I've talked to. The way they recruit, I love it. They make me feel like their top priority."
Hawkins, rated No. 159 in the early 2013 rankings by Rivals.com, was about one day away from committing to Stanford a couple weeks ago when USC came in with a surprise offer.
That move by the Trojans delayed Hawkins' decision and after an unofficial visit to USC the same day it offered, the Rancho Cucamonga standout decided to slow things down in his recruitment.
He and his family have made it a point that he doesn't want to commit and then look at other options. Once his decision is made, that's where he'll go to school.
USC, Stanford and Notre Dame were his top three schools but after talking to Washington the Huskies have moved way up. Hawkins said that he still plans to make his decision before his senior season but that he has a lot of thinking to do.
Many other programs have also offered.
"The idea to wait to commit was tough because I was going to commit to Stanford, I think everybody knew that, and then USC came with an offer and that has always been my dream school so I just had to think the process over," Hawkins said. "I'm still thinking about it.
"There is a lot going on and I need to think about this but we're going to do it before school starts because I need to know where I'm going before I start my senior year."
Stanford was the place - and still might be - but the offer from USC has made Hawkins think a lot about his future.
"It was a shock to me," Hawkins said. "I was at track practice just working on my track stuff because I had a big race the next day and then my dad called my coach and told him he was going to pick me up because USC wanted me to come down. I was really shocked.
"It was fun. They showed me all the stuff they showed me at the junior day but I got some one-on-one time with coach (Ed) Orgeron. They told me they don't have a deep depth chart at cornerback so that was good, too."