Jayden Limar, new Notre Dame RB pledge, details complicated recruitment with in-state Washington Huskies

Lake Stevens High School (Washington) star Jayden Limar is the top running back in the West region.

On Thursday afternoon, he committed to the Notre Dame Fighting Irish over Arizona, Michigan and Oregon.

The Washington Huskies weren’t his choice.

They weren’t even a hat on the table.

But how the 5-foot-11, 190-pound ball-carrier arrived at that decision is complicated.

And he’d like the hometown Washington fans to understand, knowing that even talking about it may upset them.

“I got a lot of hate after I cut them, so make sure you clarify that honestly it all was just a timing thing,” Limar said, cautiously. “I didn’t have any beef with the staff. None of that. Me and coach Lee Marks, we’ve talked a lot and have a great relationship. It was just where I was at in my process.”

Too often, fans think of recruiting as one-year process.

The reality is that many recruits receive their first scholarship offers during their freshman year of high school.

Stability, therefore, counts. And if not stability, at least some continuity.

Following the surprise retirement of Washington coach Chris Petersen in December 2019, the Huskies football program thought they were getting that continuity by promoting then-defensive coordinator Jimmy Lake.

But he lasted less than two full seasons before he was removed from his position and replaced with interim coach Bob Gregory, who was then replaced by the permanent hire of Kalen DeBoer in late November.

Limar watched all of that closely.

He dreamed of playing for Washington as a kid, and even thought that’s where he’d end up when he first became a prospect and built a relationship with Lake’s staff.

But after seeing four different coaches take over the program since the fall of 2019, and seeing Washington struggle to a 4-8 record last season, Limar felt he had to look elsewhere.

“At first, it was very difficult,” he said. “I grew up always wanting to be a Husky and play for U-Dub. I was building a great relationship with that staff, and we were hoping that the season they had was going to go a little bit better. Of course, they had a whole staff switch. (The coaching transition) kind of happened at a bad time. I was in the process of cutting down my list and trying to figure out who was going to be up on me. I was getting stressed with the process.”

When he eliminated Washington, his stress reached another level, as more than few Washington fans flocked to his social media to bash him personally.

“It wasn’t easy,” Limar said. “I didn’t go on my phone for a couple of weeks, honestly. It sucked. At the end of the day, I knew they were going to get let down, because of where they were in the process compared to where I was. (DeBoer’s staff) was trying to build a relationship, while I was trying to cut things down and choose which relationships I was going to keep up and which ones I was going to let die. It sucked.”

How did this happen?

Why is Limar only the latest example of a bluechip Washington prospect leaving the state to play his college ball?

In truth, Petersen’s retirement happened at a bad time for the program.

From 2018-2020, Washington signed three consecutive top-20 nationally-ranked recruiting classes, meaning the final order of business for Petersen was keeping his last group intact.

But the Huskies haven’t signed a top-25 class since.

The class of 2021 would mark the first of a “new era,” and it also coincided with the state of Washington’s best high school recruiting crop in state history.

Eastside Catholic defensive lineman J.T. Tuimoloau was the No. 1 prospect in the country, Steilacoom’s Emeka Egbuka was the nation's No. 1 wide receiver and Kennedy Catholic’s Sam Huard was the No. 3 quarterback in the country.

Any time there’s a head coaching change, particularly when a legendary coach moves on, there’s some question of, “what’s next?”

For Washington, that lingered — and not entirely because of Lake’s on-field results.

The COVID-19 pandemic forced the Pac-12 Conference to compete in a delayed, condensed spring schedule, and the Huskies were only able to play four games (3-1).

During that time, Washington lost some momentum and missed out on both Tuimoloau and Egbuka to Ohio State.

Last fall was an opportunity for Lake to prove his 3-1 head coaching start was the beginning of something special, but the Huskies floundered and he was fired midway through the season after just 13 games at the helm (7-6).

For class of 2022 Washington high school recruits, alarm bells rang.

“We’re all close up here,” Limar said. “Everyone up here, the four and five stars.”

Five-star offensive tackle Josh Conerly Jr. signed with Oregon, Union High School All-American wide receiver Tobias Merriweather chose Notre Dame, Todd Beamer four-star offensive tackle Malik Agbo chose Texas and Puyallup four-star two-way lineman Dave Iuli picked Oregon.

There were victories - Tumwater’s Ryan Otton signed with Washington - but even those were hard-fought and Washington finished with the Pac-12’s No. 11 recruiting class.

During the same time, class of 2023 prospects were beginning to trim their early lists down.

And for much of the fall, it was clear Washington didn’t have a long-time head coach leading the charge.

Limar said that stuck out - not just to the class of 2022 guys, but also the top in-state recruits in 2023.

“I’ve said it to a lot of people, I feel like if Washington was building something and we could see it… like Chris Petersen was when he had Myles Gaskin and John Ross and all those guys, I feel like it would’ve been a place everybody thought about more,” he said. “But with the situation they are having - they fired a coach before his first full season and had an entire new staff — it kind of messed up relationships. When you’re late in the process, you don’t want to wait on one team.”

Petersen leaving and a few key in-state misses started the ball rolling.

Throw in Lake’s short and disappointing tenure and the need for recruits to commit early because of the scholarship logjam due to an extra year of eligibility and the ever-active transfer portal and it compounds the issue.

“I feel like the timing that (DeBoer’s staff) came in, they kind of got screwed for both the 2022 and 2023 classes,” Limar said. “A lot of kids had already made their decisions or were in the process of narrowing it down when they came in. Whereas if it was still Jimmy Lake’s staff, they started at the perfect time because they got to talk to people before the season started, when we were still young and not worried about committing yet. The new staff didn’t get to do that at all. It screwed them, and I know that. I don’t fault them at all. They had no say in it.”

The Lake Stevens back really likes the early conversations he’s had with DeBoer’s staff and feels the program is back on track.

However, those conversations didn’t happen until he was ready to shut things down.

“When I had to put it all out there… I grew up a Washington fan and always wanted to go there. I wish that I was able to have the relationships I have with a lot of these other programs with them, but with the timing they came in I wasn’t able to do that,” Limar said. “I was trying to get it done with, and they came in late… but they are all great guys, though.”

He knows how all of this will sound to some Husky fans, and he expects some backlash for choosing Notre Dame.

But Limar also wants people to understand the “why” when it comes to a few of the top prospects choosing the play somewhere else in college.

He wants people to know that DeBoer’s staff is off to a strong start based on what he’s experienced.

More than anything, though, Limar hopes the backlash to his commitment doesn’t make him feel like turning off his phone for a couple weeks.

He loves his home state.

And he hopes - even after committing to Notre Dame - they love him back.