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Danny Mattingly Gains First Big Offer; More To Come!

 

February 14, 2012

Danny Mattingly has done some growing the past 4 months adding over an inch and 15 pounds of muscle and is looking great!

Call it what it is. The Huskies missed out on the top 5 players in the State in the Class of 2012 and are not going to sit on the sidelines and take it. This year they are coming out strong fixing to land the best of 2013.

Mead High School in Spokane, Washington is home to one of those elite players. Junior tight end and outside linebacker Danny Mattingly received his first offer today from those Huskies who clearly came after the top recruit in Spokane looking to make a statement.

The 6'5" and 225 pound athlete was First Team All GSL and the Co-Defensive Player of the Year. Danny grabbed 38 passes and had 350 Yards on offense taking 8 of those catches over the goal line. He was an above average blocker in the Panther's Wing T Base offense and that and those numbers make him a premier Tight End.

But it was on defense where he shined even brighter making 75 tackles, having 5 interceptions, and 4 forced fumbles. Two of those picks he took to the house.

And we would be remiss not to mention the 10 sacks he had putting his 4.6 40 speed to work.

Given his unique combination of size and speed he is a sure bet to be a big time college prospect. Coming from a family of big time athletes sure doesn't hurt either.

That little thing called genetics is not a bad thing to put your chips on if your a collegiate coach.

His father played collegiate football at Butler, his brother Andy played outside linebacker for the WSU Cougars and was drafted in the 7th round to the NFL a couple years back, and there is his uncle Don Mattingly who played that game with the small round ball and the stick for 14 years for the Yankees. 

Not a bad trio to have go before you.

"It is great having athletes in the family. It makes things fun and I respect them all for what they have achieved," said Danny indicating he is looking forward to writing his own story in the family book.

This offer just happened today and he is clearly still on Cloud 9. He is still in that moment where the athlete realizes the dream is in fact going to become a reality.

"I got a text from my Coach telling me to call Coach Sarkisian right away at the U of W. So I did," said the pumped up Junior.

On the other end of the phone Coach Sark cut to the chase and made his case clear.

"He told me they loved me and wanted me to come out for a visit but that he wanted me to know they were offering me a full ride to play football for the Huskies," he added. "Coach said I can play either side of the ball and that is really great."

Does he know much about the boys of Purple and Gold?

"Well I have been to a few Apple Cups of course and have seen first hand what a great program that is so I know enough to know this is a really good offer."

One of 9 children Danny sees his future as a student starting to take shape too. He has maintained a 3.5 GPA and likes the physical sciences and thinks engineering would be a good fit.

"They have a really good engineering program. And I think that would be a good career path for me. That or criminal justice," he said. "You know it would be really cool to invent things so engineering has my interest right now."

What about other schools? 

Well he headed down to the Army All American Combine in January with a host of schools on his recruiting sheet already in contact with him. Among them are heavy weights like Nebraska and Notre Dame. Two schools he admits are "dream schools" of his. 

Add to that UCLA, Oregon, Utah, WSU, Oregon State, and some others and things get interesting pretty fast. 

This type of big agile kid with the proven resume to help a school either side of the ball is not as common of a commodity to find as one might think. And he reminds us a lot of Charlie Hopkins; the Gonzaga Prep star of 2 years ago who is at Stanford now and was a hot West Coast prospect himself.

His other main sport now is baseball. As a rangy center fielder with a big bat his stock appears to be rising there too. In fact Danny does not plan to do much of anything for football as he is already committed to be on the road for 3 weeks straight with his AAA Baseball club. While football is the meal ticket right now who is to say he could not end up in pin stripes like Uncle Don someday.     


This Winter the former hooper is enjoying time working at Mt Spokane at the Ski Resorts and catching some powder when he can.

"I really love skiing and this was my chance to take a little time off of school sports and enjoy myself. It is really one of my favorite things to do."

The Mattingly family live on 30 acres North of Spokane and are a true outdoors family. He enjoys fishing and hunting in addition to all the other sports and school events he has going. So does much of this busy Eastern Washington family.

"My twin sisters are both really gifted athletes. Kelley is rated #2 in the Nation in Mountain Bike racing and Theresa is a top rated dirt bike racer. So there is always a lot going on around here," he said smiling.

Back to football we asked one last question. 

What is his best asset on the field given that he is so gifted in so many areas?

"I would honestly tell a coach that my best asset is my ability to focus on the needs of the team and the guys around me. If I can give it my all every play with a focus on making those guys better then we can succeed," concluded Mattingly. "After all if you don't love it you better go home."

Well said. Very well said.

The Huskies made a good move here. And they may land the big Spokane native. Kids never forget their first offer. But it is safe to say that he will have many other options to think through before that is a done deal.

As always we will keep you updated with timely information and updates on Danny Mattingly and all the Top Recruits in the Class of 2013.

Make sure to support us and catch the rets of the story and all the updates at WashingtonPreps.com

 

I am the Founder of the Northwest Prep Report. For 17 years I have led the way to the best of my ability to promote the best talent from the Pacific NW free of charge. It is my pleasure to continue to serve High School athletes from all over the Pacific NW and beyond. Formerly with Rivals.com my sites have now crossed over 8,000 stories, 7 MILLION Video Views, and 15,000 regular followers. Together with the best football people in the USA we pursue excellence for our NW athletes.

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