Washington lands late ’26 flip from former Colorado commit Joseph Peko

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Westlake Village (Calif.) Oaks Christian defensive lineman Joseph Peko has flipped his commitment from Colorado to Washington. 

Peko actually committed to the Buffs back in December but never signed. A big draw to the Buff was to play for his dad, former CU DL coach Domata Peko. When his father left for an NLF job, Peko decided to open things up. 

He took visits to Arizona and Washigton and actually committed to the Huskies two weeks ago and went private at a school assembly moments ago. 

“I’m very excited to be a Dawg,” Peko said. “Colorado was great but when my pops  left CU to coach in the NFL, I had to look around. I was still giving Colorado a hard look but when I visited Washington, I knew that was home.”

Peko took his official visit to Washington back in April.

“I had an amazing time,” Peko said. “I was able to watch the team practice and spend a lot of time with the coaches and players on the team.

“Coach Kaufusi was my lead recruiter and I can’t wait to play for him and coach Fisch of course. That staff has actually been recruiting me since I was a freshman and when they were at Arizona so I know them really well and I have a strong comfort level there.”

Peko was a four-year starter at Oaks and one of the top interior defensive lineman in country. He was invited to play in the 2026 Polynesian Bowl but wasn’t able to work out due to an injury.

“Arizona was a great visit too and I took a hard look at Colorado, even after my pops left,” Peko said. “Coach (Brent) Brennan is an amazing guy and so is coach Deion (Sanders) but I can trust coach Kaufusi and Washington to really develop me and that’s what I was looking for.”

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