Inside The Huskies

Did Anthony James Pull the Plug on UW Football Career Way Too Soon?

The defensive lineman from Texas has had mostly lower level schools pursue him.

Dan Raley

Anthony James at UW practice.
Anthony James at UW practice. / Skylar Lin Visuals

Anthony James II was one of the bigger names of the University of Washington's 2023 football recruiting class, a defensive lineman from the Dallas metro area who flipped from Texas A&M to join then-Kalen DeBoer's Husky program, someone to build around.

The images are still fairly vivid of James and his family riding around Lake Washington on a boat during his recruiting visit two years ago suggesting he had found the ideal place to spend his college days.

On April 17, however, the 6-foot-5, 272-pound James revealed he was entering the transfer portal without appearing in a game for DeBoer after injuring a shoulder, taking part in a Jedd Fisch practice or really ever settling on a position -- caught between edge rusher and defensive tackle.

More than a month later, James has posted on social media how he recently took a visit to Eastern Washington and how he's received scholarship offers from places such as UTEP.

The immediate question is this: did the one-time 4-star recruit from talent-rich Texas get pulled in by the lure of the portal, college football's Grand Central Station, give up on the UW way too soon and leave himself faced with dropping down a competitive level?

Such are the risks of the college game these days, where more than 3,800 players have turned to the portal and only a fraction have improved their football situations.

It' s hard to tell if James shortchanged himself by exiting the UW, where nearly all 85 scholarships available under Fisch's coaching lead are now spoken for, leaving him no chance to change his mind and backtrack on his actions.

To see the solidly built James up close, he looks like an enticing college prospect. Yet his body language when he came out in April to watch Husky practice and work with trainers off to the side seemed to suggest he wasn't totally on board with the new coaching staff and wasn't long for Seattle.

It's also quite possible the UW simply wasn't going to work out forJames because he didn't have a clear handle on a position when he left. He might not be quick enough to come off the edge or strong enough to play inside. Fisch's staff, however, wouldn't know his possibilities because he wasn't fully engaged in spring practice.

The good news for James is, while lower-level schools such as Marshall and Tarleton continue to reach out to him with scholarship offers, he visited Illinois two weeks ago.

For the latest UW football and basketball news, go to si.com/college/washington

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Dan Raley

DAN RALEY

Dan Raley has worked for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, as well as for MSN.com and Boeing, the latter as a global aerospace writer. His sportswriting career spans four decades and he's covered University of Washington football and basketball during much of that time. In a working capacity, he's been to the Super Bowl, the NBA Finals, the MLB playoffs, the Masters, the U.S. Open, the PGA Championship and countless Final Fours and bowl games.

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