Grant's Shaq decides: It's the Huskies

Shaq Thompson made it official via texting and via a Tweet – and that's the new generation of recruiting for you – as his exhausting and emotional whirlwind has found a bit of closure.

The Grant High School All-American safety wrote in a text message to The Bee late Monday night that he will go to Washington on a scholarship tour for the following reasons, "It's where my heart is; second highest grad rate in Pac-12; love the coaches."

The verbal agreement to Washington was sealed after Thompson made an unofficial weekend recruiting trip to the school.

He took an official visit during the fall and was hosted by his close friend and former Grant teammate James Sample, a Huskies safety.

Friday, Thompson told The Bee that Cal and Washington were neck and neck most of the season, and even when he gave a verbal commitment to attend Cal earlier this month, he was still wildly intrigued with Washington.

The feelings were mutual and the Huskies kept recruiting him, which is legal.

Scholarships do not become binding until signed and faxed on national letter of intent day, which is Wednesday, the first day prep players across the country can make agreements official.

The real twist included Tosh Lupoi, the former Cal defensive line coach who accepted the same post with Washington earlier this month.

On Jan. 15, Lupoi, while still employed by Cal, made a surprise stop to Thompson's home, after meeting with Pleasant Grove lineman Arik Armstead.

Lupoi told Thompson in that late Sunday meeting that he very well could be headed to Washington and to keep the Huskies in mind.

Sure enough, Lupoi was bound for Washington the next morning, and he has has attempted to get Thompson to flip his decision ever since.

Thompson told The Bee then he had grown close to Lupoi, never mind that Lupoi coached the defensive line and Thompson works in the secondary.

That didn't matter. The coach and player formed a bond, a common recruiting occurrence.

Thompson re-opened his recruiting Jan. 16, calling Cal and Washington a "50-50" dead heat.

In the last week, Thompson had a home visit with Cal head coach Jeff Tedford, who received two verbals from Thompson in the last year and still lost him.

Thompson also had a Washington home visit, with Lupoi, and an Oregon visit with Chip Kelly.

Thompson and Armstead spoke at length about college possibilities and fantasized about going to the same program. Now they'll face each other as Armstead is off to Oregon.

Lupoi's decision to leave Cal ultimately cost the Bears the area's top two recruits: Armstead and Thompson.

Thompson heads to Washington as the Sacramento area's most heavily recruited player since defensive lineman Reggie Rogers of Notre Del Rio (which consolidated into Grant) in 1983.

Rogers went on to become a first-round pick by the Detroit Lions in 1987, No. 7 overall.

• Read more articles by Joe Davidson

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