Nick Montana commits to Washington, Hendrix becomes top priority

Remember the idiot who posted this great story, discounting Washington right off the bat because "one of these things is not like the others". Well, he was right, one of those schools got a top quarterback with the last name Montana, and the others did not.

Nick Montana committed to Steve Sarkisian's Washington Huskies this weekend while on an unofficial visit. It's a good move for Montana; he's at a school with an offense that compliments his skill sets, and he a shot to be the cornerstone of a program's resurrection. I thought there was a chance he would commit to ND because of family ties, but it always seemed like he wanted to stay on the West Coast.

I wish Nick the best of luck at Washington. I feel for the Huskies' current situation as they try to pick up the scraps left from a terrible AD and Tyrone Willingham. We've been there before, we know how it goes.

However, the Irish need a top quarterback in this class, and so far they haven't gotten one. Devin Gardner is at Michigan, Nick Montana is at Washington, and Austin Hinder is at Cal. Andrew Hendrix, a rising star in the recruiting rankings, now becomes the top priority for the Irish coaches. Hendrix came close to pulling the trigger this weekend, after he described his unofficial visit as "fantastic," but it's still not a commitment and the Irish currently don't have a quarterback on board.

Think of it this way; you want a top-notch quarterback at least every other year. That means you are going to have a junior or redshirt sophomore starting when a senior leaves. You don't get stuck with a freshman starting, and the new quarterback has a decent grasp of the offense and a solid amount of maturity. Jimmy Clausen committed in 2007, Dayne Crist committed in 2008 and then redshirted his freshman year. Clausen graduates, Crist has two years of eligibility. This is the class where you want someone to follow Crist. Wait until next year and you tempt fate.