Inside The Huskies

Meet the Most Heavily Pursued 2026 Football Recruit Out There

PJ Carey holds at least 50 offers, including one from Jedd Fisch's UW staff.
Dan Raley|
PJ Carey has 50 scholarship offers as a defensive tackle.
PJ Carey has 50 scholarship offers as a defensive tackle. | Carey

One of the most talked-about football prospects is Preston "PJ" Carey, who's driving the recruiting websites batty.

That's because the 6-foot-5, 300-pound defensive tackle by way of East Northport, New York, and the IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida, has neither listed his top schools nor revealed where he intends to visit just yet.

Carey holds at least 50 scholarship offers, a number that seems to increase daily., one that could be a trend-setter for the Class of 2026.

The University of Washington -- the 37th school to offer him, which was one ahead of Oregon, according to Carey -- shows up on an elaborate social-media graphic created by what appears to be a Rivals connection specifically for this big kid from the East Coast, but you have to look close at the busy image.

The Huskies turn up at the very bottom of this colorful piece of artwork, with Jedd Fisch's team interestingly positioned just below another set of Huskies, Jim Mora's Connecticut version, and right next to North Carolina, Bill Belichick's budding new empire that is chalk full former UW coaches and players.

With the hype machine surrounding Carey at full throttle, he is described as "a perfect mix of strength, aggression, run stopping and pass rush with the ability to disrupt any backfield."

How unnerving for any self-respecting FBS offensive coordinator to read that.

To be sure, Carey has the same tousled hair, unnerving stare and bulging biceps that contributed to Steve Emtman becoming a consensus All-America selection for the UW and the No. 1 overall draft pick long ago.

Yet does he have that undying fury inside of him that made Emtman an unforgettable character on college football fields throughout the West?

To hear Carey speak in brief social-media snippets and read his selected motivational phrases, he almost comes across a lot like the film "Social Network" depiction of Cameron Winklevoss, who was the jilted Harvard business partner of Mark Zuckerberg in creating Facebook and a proven athlete himself as a American national team rower.

Similarly, Carey is an East Coast kid who appears to have plenty of attitude and athletic skills and maybe even a propensity for making a lot of money later on at what he does.

As for that Winklevoss comparison, there's no reason to be insulted by it. That guy is now worth $2.7 billion well before reachng his 45th birthday.

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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