Sources: Broncos Expected to Announce Chris Strausser Hiring Monday
This story has been updated from its original publishing. Sources who spoke to Rivals.com spoke under the condition of anonymity, given the sensitive nature of the hiring process.
Washington offensive line coach Chris Strausser will be formally announced as the Denver Broncos assistant offensive line coach on Monday, multiple sources with knowledge of the situation told Rivals.
One source said Strausser to Denver is "a done deal" with all parties waiting until the morning to make the hiring official.
Strausser is the second UW assistant to make the leap to the NFL in February, with former wide receivers coach / passing game coordinator Bush Hamdan leaving to become the quarterbacks coach for the Atlanta Falcons on Feb. 17.
The departure surprised some involved with the athletics department, with one source who has known Petersen since his time at Boise State surprised it happened at all, let alone to the NFL.
"Wow. He's been with Pete forever. Never really thought he would leave until he retired," one source said upon hearing the reports of Strausser's departure. "Unless he gets a chance to go to Boise State."
UW officials have not confirmed Strausser's departure and the Broncos have not publicly announced the hire as of Saturday night. The move leaves UW head coach Chris Petersen another position to fill shortly before spring ball begins in March.
Petersen brought Strausser along with him to Washington in 2013 when he was hired, one of six assistants to make the move from Boise State to build the new staff. The one-time BSU assistant will now play a role in coaching current Denver Broncos starting center Matt Paradis, who Strausser recruited to Boise.
Strausser is well-liked and known as an old school offensive line coach with a knack for developing under recruited players. He played a key role in securing 4-star OT Kaleb McGary in 2014, a top in-state recruit who seriously considered leaving the state before Petersen was hired.
In addition, Strausser recruited and developed Jesse Sosobee, Trey Adams and Nick Harris into starters at the Pac-12 level while coaching Jake Eldrenkamp to earning First-Team all-Pac-12 honors in 2016.
Harris held offers from just Cal Poly and New Hampshire before Washington offered. Strausser also signed 4-star OT Luke Wattenberg along with Harris, rated as a 2-star prospect by Rivals' rankings, for the class of 2016.
The Huskies' most recent recruiting class started with high optimism, centered around 5-star OT Foster Sarell and 4-star OG Henry Bainivalu as the two key in-state prospects. With the two Washinton prospects, along with 5-star OL Wyatt Davis from St. John Bosco HS (Bellflower, California) and others holding high interest early in the process.
Instead, UW finished with Bainivalu, who committed in November following the Huskies 26-13 loss to USC at home, along with 3-star OT Jaxson Kirkland and 3-star OL Cole Norgaard. Kirkland is the son of former UW lineman Dean Kirkland and didn't received an offer from Washington until one month before NSD.
"I'm happy for him, but of course I wanted him to stay," Norgaard told Rivals on Saturday following the reports. "It just tells me that he's one of the best coaches in the country and I still really haven't seen him in action. I'll definitely miss him. I liked him a lot but I assume it's hard to pass up NFL coaching opportunities."
Washington does not have any offensive line commitments for the class of 2018 as things stand now. UW has made an impression on several OL prospects in the class, including 4-star OT Dawson Jaramillo who recently added an offer from Oregon.
Earlier this week Petersen hired former Oregon and Baylor offensive coordinator Matt Lubick as the Huskies wide receivers coach and co-offensive coordinator to replace Hamdan.
This will be Petersen's fourth coaching hire at Washington, with the previous three being Bush Hamdan (QC promoted to WR's coach replacing WR coach Brent Pease), Ikaika Malloe (replacing DL coach Jeff Choate) and Lubick.