Showtime: Desert Ridge Hybrid Defender Set to Commit Friday
Last month was showtime for colleges across the country, including the University of Washington, to host recruits for the first time in over a year.
Since the last major recruiting weekend, which saw six uncommitted prospects in the 2022 class take an official visit to UW, one has made his commitment to Jimmy Lake and Co. That could increase this Friday, however, as another visitor is set to announce his decision.
Lance Holtzclaw, a 6-foot-4 and 200-pound hybrid defender out of Desert Ridge High School (Mesa, Arizona) confirmed on Wednesday he will make his choice at the end of this week.
The three-star senior-to-be is ranked as a three-star weakside defensive end by Rivals in the 2022 class and the No. 10 prospect from the Grand Canyon State.
Holtzclaw has a rather befitting nickname, especially when the lights turn on Friday night.
Showtime.
This Friday, it will be showtime indeed as Holtzclaw decides between Boise State, Boston College, Oregon State, Vanderbilt and Washington, the five schools who hosted him in June for an official visit.
UW got his final visit and they were the second to last school to offer him of the five schools that hosted him. But that fact doesn’t bother Holtzclaw and his time in on campus affirmed that it because of the relationships he established with Lake and outside linebackers’ coach Ikaika Malloe early on.
When Holtzclaw arrived in Seattle on the Friday afternoon of June 25 at Sea-Tac International he went straight from the airport to the UW facilities. After a short look-around tour he went back to his hotel.
While he was briefly on campus he wasn’t able to interact or see the Huskies head coach. That didn’t stop Lake from making sure the two connected. For both, it’s all about connections.
“When I left the facilities, he didn’t get to see me while he was there so while I’m in the car going back to the hotel he Facetime'd me while he was on the boat going to the facilities,” Holtzclaw said, with a slight laugh, noting Lake was driving his boat to work in the afternoon.
“He just wanted to make sure he talked to me since he didn’t get to see me.”
Lake established his relationship with Holtzclaw months before UW came in with a scholarship offer on May 12. Likewise, with Malloe, who has transitioned from defensive line coach to outside linebackers in 2021, he was very transparent with the Grand Canyon prospect and that only strengthened the trust between the two.
The Huskies weren’t the only program to make a strong impression in June. Holtzclaw spoke about his other official visits to Boston College, his hometown school being born in Boston, Massachusetts before moving to Arizona and spending the last three years out west.
First-year Vanderbilt head coach Clark Lea got the first crack at Holtzclaw after the NCAA recruiting dead period lifted on June 1. He tripped out to the Volunteer State on June 5-7 and came away very impressed with the entire Commodores operation.
“Definitely with their new head coach coming in they definitely are trying to be a huge turnaround with their program,” Holtzclaw said.
“They showed a changed and had players advocate for what they were saying, as far as them trying to change things that are going on at that program. Besides that, they did a real good job showing me things around and they definitely showed that they have a plan for what they’re trying to do.”
One major sticking point for Holtzclaw is the fact that Lea, who was hired away from being the defensive coordinator at Notre Dame to replace Derek Mason after the 2020 season, replaced all but one assistant coach from the previous staff.
That lone holdover was former Vanderbilt defensive lineman Jovan Haye, who was retained as the Commodores DL coach.
“My position coach is the only person on staff that stayed there and that showed something to me about who he is as a person, rather than just a coach,” Holtzclaw said, referring to Haye.
“Definitely him being a genuine person. When I met him in person he was the same person he’s been over the phone the whole time. He knows what he’s talking about as far as things that he’s talking about with the game, as far as other programs and college football as a whole. With him being a player at Vanderbilt beforehand, as well as him playing at the next level after that, and then coming back and coaching he has a bunch of experience and can definitely tell me a lot of things from there. But, more than just the football aspect of it, he can talk on a regular basis like normal people.”
After an unofficial visit to Colorado the next official visit went to Boise State on June 16.
The Broncos were the last school of the five remaining on Holtzclaw's list to offer him, doing so on May 30, about a week and a half after his offer came in from the Huskies.
Prior to his whirlwind June, Holtzclaw stated he wanted to use his official visits as an opportunity to see places that he had never been to and experience new cultures.
When he got on the plane to go see first-year head coach Andy Avalos he had a whole different vision of what the place would be.
“I didn’t know what to expect from there, but they were very, very heavy on me. Out of the schools recruiting me Boise State was definitely very high on me as far as the recruiting standpoint goes,” he said.
“When I got there all the energy that they’ve had over Zoom calls, phone calls and Facetime’s and stuff like that was all there when I got there. I didn’t know what to expect going to Boise, Idaho, but they showed me a complete difference from what I thought it would be. So that was really nice.”
His second to last visit was a return home to the Northeast to check out Boston College on June 23 before making the trek back west to Washington on June 25-27.
Holtzclaw would be the second defensive commitment for the Huskies in this years’ class, if he does end up choosing to dawn purple and gold, joining three-star Salt Lake City (Utah) East defensive tackle Ben Roberts.
Both prospects made an official visit the last weekend in June, along with four-star Honolulu (Hi.) Punahou defensive end / linebacker Teva Tafiti and four-star cornerback Ben Morrison and four-star Tumwater (Wash.) tight end Ryan Otton.