Huskies' Petersen Blends Polynesian Culture, UW to Find Recruiting Gem

SEATTLE – It took Chris Petersen almost nine months from the time he was hired at Washington before the old-fashioned head football coach delivered his first Huskies-esq Bat-Signal on Twitter.

Sometimes in all caps, other times with just the “W” capitalized, always preceded by a hashtag, Petersen has continued the tradition set forth by his predecessor, Steve Sarkisian, who used Twitter as a medium to convey with a simple “woof” that the Huskies had just secured another verbal commitment.

Petersen has never been fond of social media – Twitter was founded in March 2006, his first season as head coach at Boise State. In his four seasons at the helm of the Huskies program the use of social media has become increasingly more prevalent across the sport.

Most schools, including UW, have some form of digital media department to create eye-catching clips for Twitter and other social media platforms. Sharing hype videos of players and coaches intermingling in some form or fashion has become a norm for coaching staffs in recent years.

They’re effectively what receiving a brochure in the mail from a school meant before social media entered college athletics – giving recruits and their families, who might not have the financial ability to afford unofficial visits, a window into the Huskies program.

Most often recruits that come visit UW bring at least one family member on the trip, one of the smaller details the Huskies coach emphasizes when recruiting players to the school. So, when four-star linebacker Ale “Brandon” Kaho wanted to visit last April, his dad, Pate Kaho, made the trip work, but it meant neither parent would get to see the campus or meet the coaches.

The visit exceeded expectations for Kaho, a then-verbal commit to Brigham Young University dating back to June 2016. Before returning in December for his UW official visit, Kaho took his first official to Tuscaloosa in early November. In the days leading into his second official, Petersen flew out to Reno to meet with the entire Kaho family.

Petersen shared his vision for how the four-star recruit would fit in the Huskies program, talked about the importance of continuing to grow the Polynesian pipeline, and made sure to dress for success.

“Oh yeah. Oh yeah, absolutely, he knew what he was doing when he wore that shirt,” Pate said, when asked the impact Petersen’s shirt made on Ale and the family.

“He knew what he as doing when he wore that shirt here. Big time. But that’s game planning. That’s knowing what kind of environment you’re going in to and how to make adjustments. But I love that shirt man. I knew exactly why he wore that. That’s Poly love right there, you know what I mean?”

The Huskies have a long, successful track record, no only with Polynesian players choosing to sign with the school, but flourish in college and go on to have a career in the NFL.

Former nose tackle and Auburn High School Auburn, Washington) product Danny Shelton went No. 12 to the Cleveland Browns in the 2015 NFL Draft. UW is expected to add another to the list in less than two months with Morris Trophy Award winner Vita Vea projected to go as No. 10 to the Oakland Raiders in recent mock drafts.

Shelton played just one season, 2014, under Petersen and then-defensive coordinator Pete Kwiatkowski, who has since handed over the full-time duties to assistant coach Jimmy Lake. Walking barefoot and shirtless outside the team hotel before the Huskies 31-13 Apple Cup victory in 2014, Shelton's name is still mentioned to current players that were still in high school during his time at UW.

The return of Ikaika Malloe in December 2015 to replace former coach Jeff Choate, who left to become the head football coach at Montana State University, brought even more attention to recruiting Polynesian players to UW.

With other schools from the Southeastern Conference, Pac-12, and more Power Five programs in general putting a greater focus on recruiting Polynesian players. parents and recruits know the legacy that Petersen has built upon.

"I guess what I’m saying is there is a lot of Polynesian ballers that are coming out. And I think a lot of the programs are trying to imitate having a Polynesian culture and that home feel where everyone is family," Pate said, noting that Alabama, USC and others are not fake"in their presentation, more so how rich the Poly history is at UW.

"But I think with Washington it seemed like it was real. They wanted to establish a culture, and Washington – obviously myself growing up it always had a Polynesian culture. Obviously the Polynesian community is strong in Seattle, but as far as UDub, the program and its football program, it was always had the Polynesian culture there.

"But for us when we went to UDub, to be honest all the trips we went on were very – the Polynesian culture was heavily emphasized and it was real. And I’m not saying the other programs were fake or anything like that, but I just notice a lot of schools now are trying to understand. They know that Polynesian’s are ballers and they are basically trying to get a Polynesian pipeline to their program.”

UW had six signees from its 2018 class participate in the 2018 Polynesian Bowl in Honolulu, Hawaii -- Kaho, Sam Taimani, Zion Tupuola-Fetui, MJ Tafisi, Kyler Gordon, and MJ Ale -- and 2019 three-star OT Nathaniel Kalepo is already committed to play in the showcase game in 2019.

With 21 signees the Huskies finished 2018 with the No. 14 ranked class, No. 2 in the Pac-12 behind USC with a top 5 finish, and one spot above the Oregon Ducks at No. 15.