Less than two months after Washington joined the hunt for three-star tight end Lake McRee the Huskies have vaulted into his top 10.

McRee, listed at 6-foot-5 and 215 pounds out of Lake Travis High School (Austin, Texas), received his offer from UW on Feb. 15, three days after he announced his de-commitment from the University of Texas.

Several other schools followed suit to offer the talented offensive weapon after the Huskies and to date 24 programs have thrown their hat in the ring for McRee.

Recently he trimmed down his list to ten with just two schools from the Pac-12 Conference: USC and UW.

The other eight schools – Alabama, Auburn, LSU, Michigan State, Penn State, Purdue, TCU and Texas – are expected to compete to get the three-star TE on campus once recruits are able to take unofficial and official visits.

Prior to the shutdown due to the Covid-19 pandemic, McRee had hoped to have a decision made before his senior season. Since that appears unlikely he wanted to focus on a specific group of schools to move forward with in his recruitment.

“I was hoping to know where I was going to go before the season starts but that may be pushed back,” McRee told TheDawgReport.com this week. “So I think what made me cut it down was just the schools that I think I would fit into the best.”

Again in this years’ class first-year assistant coach Derham Cato is looking to load up the position again with UW prone to using a high volume of players at the position.

The Huskies signed two in the 2020 class – Mark Redman and Mason West – both of whom have enrolled.

Cato, who was hired to replace long-time assistant Jordan Paopao, immediately hit the ground running on the recruiting trail once his hiring was officially announced on Jan. 11.

“I can really tell I’m a big priority to them,” McRee said. “I’m constantly talking to them, which really shows me they care which I enjoy. They also are one of the best schools for utilizing the tight end and I think I would fit into their offense very well.”

Since 2015 two UW players from the position have been selected, Will Dissly (2018 NFL Draft) and Drew Sample (2019 NFL Draft), while two others have stuck as undrafted free agents, Josh Perkins and Darrell Daniels.

Hunter Bryant is expected to make it three consecutive drafts with a Husky tight end being selected in the 2020 NFL Draft later this month.

While McRee has not had the chance to meet Cato in person or make a visit to the UW campus, the two have struck up a strong connection over the past two months. Recently Cato spent more than 90 minutes talking with the three-star prospect on a Zoom call to break down in depth how he will utilize and develop his players.

“I have a very good relationship with coach Cato,” McRee said. “Every time we talk it’s very meaningful. It was great to be on that Zoom meeting with him. I think we both learned a lot and we both contributed a lot to the conversation so it was a really good meeting.”

Cato is not the only UW assistant recruiting the coveted three-star tight end to the Pacific Northwest. First-year offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach John Donovan has played a significant role in his recruitment as well.

Once recruits are able to make visits again McRee said both an unofficial and official visit are “a very good possibility for me” with respect to him getting up to Seattle. The three-star TE did take an unofficial visit to USC last summer when the Trojans offered him.