Everyone in the Northwest except the University of Washington has had one.
A Pellum playing football.
Hoping to address this flaw in the pedigree, the Huskies made a scholarship offer Monday to Ryan Pellum, a speedy 5 foot-10, 160 lb. wide receiver and kick returner for Millikan High in Long Beach, California.
He’s only a sophomore, in the class of 2024, but he’s a Pellum.
He already has 36 scholarships in hand, most notably from Alabama, Ohio State, Penn State, Notre Dame, Miami and Texas A&M, and now the Huskies.
He was also offered by Fresno State, when new UW leader Kalen DeBoer coached, and by Purdue, when new Husky receiver coach JaMarcus Shephard was part of that Big Ten staff.
“It feels really good to have all these offers,” Pellum told Nittany Sports Now. “The most important thing is that I now know that I don’t have to worry about paying for school and that I can do what I love.”
The game loves him back. This Pellum was recently named the Moore League’s Most Valuable Player after catching 42 passes for 721 yards and 10 scores.
Catch him if you can.
As for those deep-rooted family ties to college football, Ryan is the younger brother of Romeo Pellum, who has been the head coach of Millikan Rams for the past three seasons.
Romeo played two seasons as a cornerback for Washington State, starting all 12 games in 2008, before being fired for unspecified team violations and finishing his college career at Hampton University in Virginia.
Their uncle is Don Pellum, who was a linebacker for Oregon in 1982-84 and coached at his alma mater for a quarter of a century, working his way up to defensive coordinator. Today, Don is the UCLA linebackers coach for Chip Kelly.
Another uncle is Forrest Pellum, who wrote at cornerback for the Oregon State Beavers in 1980 and 1982, and has a daughter, Forshae, who is currently a sprinter with Portland State.
If the Huskies have anything to do with this latest Pellum, Ryan makes no secret that he admires another football speedster who grew up in Long Beach in John Ross. Ross, a Jordan High alum, naturally made a name for himself as a UW wide receiver and kick returner before moving to the NFL, now with the New York Giants. Ryan works with a trainer who has spent a lot of time with Ross.
For now, Ryan Pellum practices under the palm trees along the Millikan High practice field, amazes everyone in the Long Beach area on Friday nights, and constantly checks his email in-box or his text messages to see who’s been calling him lately. offered a scholarship.
“Everyone told me this would all happen one day, but I really didn’t expect it to happen so quickly,” he said of his ever-growing offers.
People can say the same about Ryan Pellum out in the open. He also goes fast.
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