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Inside The Huskies

One-time Husky Anthony James Commits to FCS Northwestern State

He's now on his third school, though the Texan is much closer to home.
Dan Raley|
Anthony James at UW fall practice.
Anthony James at UW fall practice. | Skylar Lin Visuals

Anthony James, the former University of Washington defensive lineman still looking to get his college football career up and running, revealed on Friday he has committed to Northwestern State for the upcoming season.

Both the Texas native and the FCS school in Louisiana are looking to restore seriously flagging football reputations.

Once considered the prize of the Huskies' 2023 recruiting class, the 6-foot-5, 272-pound James finds himself in a year's time going from the Huskies' 14-1 national runner-up team to a Northwestern State program coming off a disastrous 0-12 showing, with a brief stop-off at Eastern Washington in between.

James has yet to play a college down.

At least the defensive player is much closer to his Texas home now, with Northwestern State, a Southland Conference team located in Natchitoches, Louisiana, found 260 miles east of his suburban Dallas home of Wylie.

A. 4-star player once committed to Texas A&M, James spent just just 12 months in Montlake with Kalen DeBoer's and Jedd Fisch's coaching staffs before entering the transfer portal last spring. He suffered an upper-body injury that set him back initially.

DeBoer's defensive staff admittedly couldn't decide whether James was better suited as a defensive tackle or an edge rusher, which also impeded his progress.

He curiously transferred this past season to FSC Eastern Washington, remaining in the Northwest, but he never appeared in any games for the Cheney school and left there once the Eagles finished 4-8.

Now James will see if he can get on the field in his third college football season for the Demons, which were beaten by three touchdowns or more in every game except one, a 37-31 loss to Prairie View A&M.

Coached by Blaine McCorkle, Northwestern State gave up 87 points to South Alabama, 62 to Tulsa and Houston Christian, and 59 to Stephen F. Austin. So this team is badly in need of defensive help.

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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