Porter makes his decision

Scout.com was able to confirm Friday that Colin Porter, a 6-foot-4.5, 300-pound offensive lineman from Redmond, Wash. verbally committed to Washington over offers from Washington State and Stanford. Porter is rated as the top offensive guard prospect in the Northwest and the No. 19 guard prospect overall nationally by Scout.com

"Yes, I can confirm that I committed to UW," Porter told Scout.com via text. Scout was also able to confirm that Porter is transferring from Redmond High School to Bothell, just a few miles to the west.

The verbal commitment of Nick Montana to Washington earlier in the week catalyzed a flurry of media attention toward the Huskies, and Porter was taking notice.

"The Nick Montana commitment really solidified how I felt," he said. "It's great to get those in-state players, but when you get out-of-state players of that stature to come in here...when his top-7 were Alabama and LSU and Notre Dame and Ohio State and then Washington...for him to commit to Washington over all those other schools let me know that these coaches mean business."

The Huskies have been in Porter's blood from the beginning. Colin's father Ron played at Washington in the late 60's. "My Dad has told me that ever since I was four years old he knew I was going to be a Division-1 athlete," he said. "It's always been expected." His older sister Blaire is an All-American softball player for Long Island University.

When the recruiting process really start to hit, Porter got offers from Washington, Washington State and Stanford. He took unofficial visits to Oregon and Oregon State, and liked what he saw, but no offers came from the Beaver State.

"It came to me the other day...I was always looking somewhere else," said Porter. "Like with Stanford, I was talking to a good friend's Dad one day and he went to U-Dub and he also had some friends that went to Stanford. They tried to apply to U-Dub's business school and didn't get in. U-Dub's Business School is one of the best in the world. They have great academics and they are coming back in football. I can see that."

And after a couple stressful weeks, part of it over his move from Redmond to Bothell, Porter was thinking more and more about his future. "It was time to get this part of it over with," he said of his commitment.

People on the outside were questioning the legality of a transfer and why he would make the transfer to begin with. "My family has rented houses and moving around since I've been in the sixth grade," Colin added. "So it was like we would have to move every summer. My Mom works out in Bothell, so we're trying to move out there to make that work out. Financially there were a lot of houses for really good prices up there, so it just worked out that way."

So Friday morning Porter asked his Dad if he should make his commitment. "He thought I should but I didn't know if I wanted to," Porter said. "Right after school I called him up and told him I wanted to do it, and he said OK."

So he drove over to Montlake by himself and went into the football office. He found his recruiting coach, Jeff Mills, and told him the good news. First year Head Coach Steve Sarkisian was out of the office, but Porter was able to reach him by phone.

"He was really excited," Porter said of Sarkisian's reaction.

Porter has played right tackle in high school, but expects to start out inside in college. "(Washington Offensive Line) Coach (Dan) Cozzetto talked to me about what he likes to do with offensive linemen when they come in," he said. "They usually start them on the inside, because the game is a lot slower. You aren't facing really quick, fast defensive ends, as opposed to defensive tackles that aren't as fast. On the inside you get used to the game and then they would move me to the outside if it suits me."

Porter will finish up his finals at Redmond this next week, while also cutting through the red tape involved with getting enrolled at Bothell so he can take part in the football team's summer camp. Once school is done, Porter is going to take 10 days off to clear his head and get focused for this fall. "I'm going to work as hard as I ever have to contribute to what Bothell is doing," he said.

Montana's Oaks Christian teammate, offensive lineman Erik Kohler, is expected to visit Seattle starting Saturday. Porter expects to be on campus too. "If I bump into him I'll definitely be talking to him," he said.

And his message? "I'd tell him that I'm a Husky now and we're going to do big things. With your buddy Nick coming in here, we're going to be doing big things and you need to seriously consider getting on board because we wouldn't want you to miss out."

Colin Porter Scout.com Profile