Petaluma (Calif.) Casa Grande defensive tackle Elijah Qualls Monday told recruiting sites that he’d be taking an official visit to Nebraska Feb. 1 — right before Signing Day. That was big news to Husker fans, since Qualls would be NU’s top-ranked line recruit of the class.

Later that day, Qualls’ high school coach, Trent Herzog told Scout that Qualls wasn’t making any visits because he had to concentrate on school. I wrote that “kneejerk speculation” indicated the University of Washington’s coaches – specifically defensive line coach and recruiting stud Tosh Lupoi — might have applied pressure to Herzog and Qualls.

Herzog called Wednesday to explain that:

>> Washington applied no pressure to Qualls — in fact, the Huskies are confident enough they’ve landed Qualls that they’re OK with him taking other visits — and Lupoi hasn’t contacted Herzog in weeks.

>> Qualls is NCAA eligible right now academically, but needs to concentrate on schoolwork to stay that way, which takes precedent over more official visits.

>> Nebraska’s done a thorough job of recruiting Qualls, but the 6-foot-1, 290-pounder is “100 percent Washington” and helping recruit other players to Seattle. Herzog said it wouldn’t be fair to Nebraska or UCLA — where Qualls was considering a second visit — if the kid was still strongly on board with the Huskies.

Herzog went into more detail on these points than I’m posting here. It’s fair to say: Qualls is sticking with the Huskies.