I was once criticized for wearing a Washington Husky sweatshirt by, who I assumed, were locals in downtown Ellensburg.

I exchanged a few choice words with them and really emphasized the fact that I was raised a Husky fan and I am here for school, not athletics. I thoroughly enjoy this school and their athletics, but I am a Husky at heart. And if you are a Husky fan in this day and age, you are, or should be, ecstatic for the next few years. I’m talking both basketball and football.

The future for basketball and football seemed rather cloudy this past spring.

The football team just lost one of the worst bowl games I’ve ever seen and lost their best playmaker, John Ross, to a season ending ACL injury.

Yes, they had their future star quarterback signed, but what about their defense? Offensive line? Running back? All these questions seemed to have vague answers in the beginning.

Much like the football team, the basketball team had internal issues.

Lorenzo Romar was fighting for his job. Their best defender, Robert Upshaw, was kicked off the team and they lost 15 of their final 20 games.

Fast forward to the beginning of the 2015-2016 football season: true freshman Myles Gaskin burst onto the scene as the team’s starting running back. Gaskin ended the season with 1302 rushing yards and 14 touchdowns.

The Huskies’ first big victory of the season came against USC in Los Angeles, against their former head coach Steve Sarkisian.

Skipping ahead to their final games of the season, University of Washington (UW) annihilated Oregon State University and Washington State University in the Apple Cup, earning them a trip to a bowl game against the University of Southern Mississippi (USM).

The Huskies went on to beat USM and, for the first time ever, the Huskies were the Zaxby’s Heart of Dallas bowl champions.

Who really cared though? The point of those last three games was recruiting.

Since the end of that season, head coach Chris Petersen signed eight four-star commits.

According to ESPN.com the recruits include the 16th best cornerback in the country, the 15th best linebacker, the 17th best athlete and the 25th best safety.

Husky basketball is also in a similar situation going into the second half of the season.

UW had a tremendous 2015 recruiting class, with most of the players coming from the Seattle area.