No Jake Heaps? No worries. UW will suffer no setback

Jake Heaps is your typical phenom. Professional, conditioned and flawless mechanics. Impeccable swagger and intangibles.

Has ‘it’.

He took reigns of Skyline High school as a Sophomore and by the end of his high school career had at least 26 D-1 scholarship offers and two state championships under his belt.

Of the handful of offers, he chose BYU, over his runner up, Washington. I can speculate that the decision had to do more with personal reasons than Football reasons, but, it’s irrelevant, as that’s a part of recruiting.

At the time, it was a major blow to UW. The Savior, Saint Locker, only had two, maybe even just one, year left at the Dub. Sarkisian needed HIS quarterback. His project. His champion that he would groom to lead Washington to the heights that he took the job for. Every UW fan, and their mom, circled Heaps as that guy.

Judging by how he looked at BYU’s spring practices, after graduating from Skyline early to attend, the despair and disappointment of UW fans at the time was well placed. Jake Heaps hardly looked like a true Freshman, and polished enough to step in and play right away. And I didn’t expect anything less. Jake Heaps is an NFL quarterback in waiting, and will take minimum coaching to maximize his potential. BYU fans will be dumping their Max Hall jerseys within a matter of minutes after Heaps throws his first touchdown pass.

And good for Cougar fans. Hope they have fun with him, because Washington won’t feel any long term affects of Heaps’ spurning. Infact, UW will be just as good as if Heaps had committed.

Hey Husky fans, raise your hand if you’ve seen Joe Montana walking around the Husky stadium track this spring.

Huh? What does that have to do with anything? Hey, who’s that skinny kid wearing number 5 in the Gold?

Ladies and Gentleman, I present to you the future of the Washington Huskies. The proud quarterback tradition that can be dated back to Warren Moon, through Chandler, the Huards, Tui, and now Saint Locker, the next in line is the son of Joe, Nick Montana.

It’s not hard for anybody to tell what the plan is for him. To redshirt behind Jake and take his spot on the throne next year as Savior 2.0.

But how can Washington be better off with a kid who was rated as low as three stars by one recruiting service, to a kid who was nearly a consensus best High school QB in the nation? Is Nick Montana just as good?

Well, here’s why.

Nick Montana was a sleeper prospect compared to Jake Heaps. Meaning, Heaps got a head start on Montana. Montana had to transfer to Oaks Christian before getting his opportunity as a Junior, when Heaps was already established and getting phone calls from every coach in America. But it didn’t take long for Montana to get noticed after a fantastic Junior season, and it didn’t take him long to commit either. Just taking a look at the short list of teams that offered Nick you’d find Notre Dame, Georgia, Ohio State, LSU, Alabama and Stanford.

Jake Heaps’ list of offers is every bit as impressive and also includes schools such as Oklahoma. And before anybody makes excuses for Nick’s offers, such as it’s his name and his father as to why so many schools are after him, take a look at his older brother Nate, who had to walk on at Notre Dame when no offers came his way.

Nick Montana will also be coming into a system that is absolutely perfect for him. A slightly mobile quarterback that loves to move around outside of the pocket a little bit, coming into an offense that has West coast written all over it, and has been adjusted to take advantage of Locker’s mobility beautifully. Montana will fit right in, as soon as he adds a little bulk and improves his arm strength. His football IQ and tight spiral are already Pac-10 ready, from what I’ve been able to observe in practices.

And of course, UW got the last laugh when Oaks Christian came up to Snohomish last year and defeated Skyline, with Jake Heaps throwing the game sealing interception.

It’s only a shame the two won’t be facing each other in Provo to open the 2010 season. Mr. Heaps will have to contend with next year’s likely number one overall pick, Saint Locker.