Aakil Washington’s recruitment has been locked down for over a month now after his commitment to Liberty back on September 19th, but that doesn’t mean some colleges are still not interested. The senior has certainly made an impact during this season thus far, and that has added a new school into the picture with Georgia Southern offering back on October 1st.
“After I committed to Liberty, the only school that has talked to me and offered me was Georgia Southern, but that’s it.”
His recruitment might continue to take off, especially if teams get a hold of tape against Westlake, where he dominated an offensive line loaded with D1 talent. In fact, he made one of the best plays from last weekend when he popped out his stance lightening-fast, splitting the OT and OG, then as the RB came up for added support he promptly trucked him into the turf before sacking the quarterback. It was perhaps the best play of Washington’s high school career in terms or pure football talent, and earned him the #2 spot in the Recruit Georgia Top 10 plays for Week 11.
Washington was too quick, too powerful for a Westlake OT that currently has a few offers so far as junior, but it’s been that kind of season for Washington. Going into the final week of the regular season, Washington has totaled 12 sacks and 22 tackles for loss, which will definitely put him on All-State consideration for 7-A.
Washington felt like the season had a lot of promise, but was temporarily derailed until recently where they have gotten their Wildcat swagger back.
“The season started off with a lot of energy with the first win and then after that we lost 3 games that we should’ve dominated, this caused people to lose focus and then some people quit and gave up. Next game came around and we got blown out by East Coweta by like 55-14 and I’m guessing that woke people up and caused them to get focused because we didn’t want to feel that again.”
Washington continued, “The next week we had a good practices every day and blew out Campbell 27-0 and that built our confidence up and brought us into next week against Westlake where we ended up beating them 18-15 (#1 team in our region), so hopefully we can build off of this.”
Many have considered the win over Westlake a signature win for the program in 2019, and with Pebblebrook last on the schedule, they can secure a playoff birth and continue their strong push into November. Wheeler is definitely focused on closing out the year strong, but that doesn’t mean Washington has not thought about visiting the school that most recently offered him too.
“I’m probably going to head up to Georgia Southern but I feel more colleges are gonna offer me after the season, so we will see how it all plays out.”
As mentioned earlier, Washington is a very good pass-rusher and he attributes that a lot to the offseason where he worked his personal trainer, Marcus Howard. “My most improved skill was my run game. I wasn’t that good at all last year but I got it locked down now, my speed and hands have gotten way better after working with my trainer Marcus Howard.”
Full disclosure, Howard is an advertising partner with Recruit Georgia, but has shown to be one of the best at teaching edge defenders in the state of Georgia. The 2020 student-athlete is much more explosive at the point of attack from last year, definitely better control of his body and is getting into the backfield at a much higher clip for sure.
Probably our harshest critique of Washington going into his senior year was improving against the run, and you can tell that hard-work this offseason had made a big difference in watching his senior film at the top of the article. Taking heed to others advice, reflecting on ones weaknesses then attacking them is not only a positive sign for Washington projection arch, but also a testament to his determination to improve.
Looking back to his time at Wheeler, Washington talked about what he enjoyed most on Friday nights. “My favorite part about playing Friday nights is probably how the environment changes after making a big play, and just going to war with my family, and coming out with a win.”
The win over Westlake last week was huge, and their is some momentum in the autumnal air over at Wheeler high school now, not just with Washington’s recruitment either, but also the team. It’ll be interested to follow them for the remainder of their season and to see how Washington plays in some of the biggest games, so stay tuned to @RecruitGeorgia on Twitter to stay up to date on everything Georgia high school football. Also, be sure to checkout Aakil Washington’s RG profile.
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