Eyes on Sizemore: Is he a future QB or safety at UW? - Seattle Times Feb. 2, 2000

Bud Withers - Seattle Times staff reporter

Stop us if you've heard this one:

Local athlete signs a letter of intent at Washington. Buzz is, he'll be a safety in college, but you never know. If he can cut it at quarterback, he'll get a shot.

Plays three sports: football, basketball and baseball. In fact, he's good enough with an outfielder's glove and aluminum bat that pro scouts have their eyes on him, and he might be drafted high enough to face a decision in June.

Gets good grades, partly because his parents are strong figures in his life.

Marques Tuiasosopo, meet Grady Sizemore. Oh, you've already met, you say. Tuiasosopo was Sizemore's "host" player during his recruiting visit in December.

Tuiasosopo's success as a two-way threat at quarterback last fall has shaded the way the Husky coaching staff looks at some of its recruits. More are extrapolated now as quarterbacks, not as safeties-in-waiting.

That includes Sizemore, a guy who didn't even play quarterback most of the time for his Cascade High School team. He was a running back, cornerback and safety; but he was intriguing enough in some spot play at quarterback for the Bruins that he will get a shot there next fall for the UW, just as Tuiasosopo did back in 1997.

"He only played there when we had to put him there," Cascade Coach Rollie Wilson said. "For example, in the Oak Harbor game, it was tied after three quarters. We just needed a quarterback who could actually run. We put him in, and he scored two touchdowns."

Although Husky coaches are bent on giving Sizemore a chance at quarterback, he is likely to end up elsewhere. He is 6 feet 2 and about 200 pounds, much as Tuiasosopo was out of high school, but there are two differences: Tuiasosopo was a high-school quarterback, and unlike Sizemore, he was hellbent to play college quarterback.

"It doesn't really matter," Sizemore said during a class break last week. "Wherever they want to put me . . . it would be kind of fun to play quarterback, but it would be kind of fun to play safety, too."

Running back is another option. Sizemore rushed for 3,081 career yards at Cascade, topping former Husky linebacker Jerry Jensen's numbers there.

"It'd be really easy to see him as a safety," said Terry Ennis, his former coach at Cascade. "On the other hand, he's the kind of kid that you'd like to have the ball in his hands, either as a receiver or running back."

As for quarterback, Ennis said, "I'm not sure Grady's arm is at a level with Marques'. Marques didn't throw a lot in high school, but he threw very well."

Ennis first used Sizemore to return punts his sophomore year and got an inkling of his ability.

"He was just very sure-handed, aggressive and un-sophomoric," Ennis said. "Right away, I thought, `This kid's pretty special.' "

Even before that, Ennis knew that athletics weren't out of whack in the Sizemore household.

"I remember when he was a freshman, playing JV basketball," Ennis said. "They'd play that preliminary game, and (Sizemore's parents) would basically take him home to study. There were some things they made sure Grady took care of."

Sizemore's parents are Southerners. His dad, Grady Sr., grew up in South Carolina and played some football and baseball at North Carolina. So when Clemson knocked on their door with an offer for their son to take a visit last fall, they listened.

"He was interested," Grady Sr. said. "They had good football and baseball programs, and good weather was a key for him."

In the end, however, Washington overcame weather and promised Sizemore a chance to play both sports, much as Tuiasosopo will try baseball this spring.

The baseball draft is a possible impediment to Sizemore ever seeing Montlake, although it doesn't seem to be an imposing one. He hit .462 last year for Cascade and led his team in several other offensive categories, then pounded 12 homers in 35 games for an American Legion team in Everett last summer.

"We're pushing college," the senior Sizemore said. "We want Grady to go to school. They (baseball people) keep saying, `What if we draft him high and offer him a lot of money?'

"We say it's got to be a lot of money."

Said his son, "I'd rather go to college right now."

Tuiasosopo went through the same process, although in the end the choice was really no choice. Minnesota drafted him in the 28th round, and he decided on Washington.

Odds are Sizemore does the same, meaning he's coming soon to a football position near you. Maybe even quarterback.

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