Wilson's Desmond Trufant commits to Huskies

The Washington State Cougars had already grabbed themselves a Locker for their football recruiting Class of 2009.

So over the weekend, the Huskies snared themselves a Trufant.

Desmond Trufant, a senior cornerback at Wilson High school and the younger brother of former Washington State star and current Seahawk Marcus Trufant, said Sunday he has given a commitment to UW coaches to sign with the Huskies next month. (Casey Locker, a Ferndale High senior and cousin of Huskies quarterback Jake Locker, has given a commitment to WSU.)

Desmond Trufant committed during his official recruiting visit to UW this weekend.

He was one of four players to give a commitment to Washington this weekend, according to various recruiting services. Several reported that UW had also received commitments from safety Will Shamburger of St. John Bosco High in Bellflower, Calif.; and defensive tackle Chris Robinson of Tustin, Calif. RealDawg.com also reported that Washington had received a commitment from receiver James Johnson of Escondido, Calif. If all are in the fold, UW has 14 known commitments for this class.

While he said the Cougars "came at me pretty hard," Trufant said he didn't think much about his brother's WSU history during the recruiting process.

"I was making a decision based off me and my perspective," he said.

He said his older brother told him to "do what I want to do. He told me it was a good decision and that he was proud of me."

The 5-11, 170-pound Trufant, who also seriously considered Arizona State, is rated as the No. 70 player at his position in the nation.

Five other players who visited this weekend had already committed, and Trufant said that led to talk about turning the UW program around.

"We got to see what the future is going to be like, who is going to be on the team, so it was cool," he said.

There were a reported 13 players making visits this weekend, the first hosted by new coach Steve Sarkisian and his staff. The team will host additional recruits the next two weekends.

Trufant said he was heavily recruited by Tyrone Willingham's staff, but with the coaching uncertainty — and the eventual firing of Willingham — was unsure for a while what he wanted to do. But he said staying close to home and have his family watch him play was a key factor.

That UW went 0-12 last season, he said, "didn't enter my mind. It's a whole new coaching staff, there will be whole new schemes, a whole new everything. Plus, they come from winning backgrounds."