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Photo by Dan Stewart

If that guy wearing the green-and-gold No. 2 jersey looks an awful lot like another standout that came out of Sehome High School a few years ago - well, don't be alarmed.

Tim Malo patterns his game after former All-American safety Taylor Rapp, now with the Los Angeles Rams.

"We've known each other quite some time," said Malo, adding he first met Rapp when he was in fifth grade. "And last offseason, he came back to Sehome and I was able to train with him, and pick up a lot of techniques to play at the next level."

That next level for Malo will be Brown University. He signed with the Bears of the Ivy League on Wednesday.

And the body comparisons of the two are eerily similar: Rapp was 6-foot-1, 195 pounds coming out of high school signing with Washington in 2015. Malo is 6-0, 196.

"I was not here when Taylor was at Sehome," fourth-year Mariners coach Kevin Beason said. "From what I can gather, both are driven athletes. Both have goals in mind. They do it with a purpose."

A good student - he holds a 3.93 grade-point average - Malo figured he could be headed to a high-academic university. So in the summer of 2019, he and his family made a trip back to the East Coast to visit Brown, Dartmouth, Harvard and Yale.

"We wanted him to peek at schools just as a regular student," said Greg Malo, his father.

Brown University coaches liked Tim Malo, but, like many colleges, wanted to see senior-year film.

With Washington high school football at a standstill because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Malo got a break playing in the Ford Sports Performance’s “College ID Camp” in early October. And he was one of the standout defensive backs.

A month later, Malo was a Bears' commit.

"My goal is to play at the highest level possible," Malo said.

CAN OHIO STATE NAB BOTH TOP WASHINGTON RECRUITS?

Even during the Steilacoom early-signing day ceremony Wednesday, five-star wide receiver Emeka Egbuka had his ears to the news coming out of J.T. Tuimoloau's camp.

The consensus top recruit in the state from Eastside Catholic - and arguably in the nation - revealed his list of five finalists as Alabama, Ohio State, Oregon, USC and Washington.

Hmm ... Ohio State, huh?

"It would be great if we were able to be teammates ...," said Egbuka, the state's No. 2 recruit in 2021. "We’ve been friends for longer than that."

As Egbuka pointed out, if Tuimoloau signed with the Buckeyes, it would be another key building block in winning a national championship.