Inside The Huskies

Texas-Produced Safety Joshua Lair Latest to Pull Away From UW

He's the fourth high school player to ask for a release or de-commit since the Husky coaching change.
Dan Raley|
Texas-Produced Safety Joshua Lair Latest to Pull Away From UW
Texas-Produced Safety Joshua Lair Latest to Pull Away From UW

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Washington Huskies

The University of Washington football team left a lot of stuff in Texas. The DeBoer era. A 21-game winning streak. All those good feelings generated by a 14-0 record entering the College Football Playoff championship game. Program stability.

Add Joshua Lair to that list, a Texas safety who told On3.com he will ask for his scholarship release from the Huskies — becoming the fourth member of the 2024 recruiting class to want out since the coaching change from Kalen DeBoer to Jedd Fisch.

Earlier, edge rusher Noah Carter, defensive lineman Keona Wilhite and edge rusher Dominic Kirks either requested releases or de-committed from the program. 

The Huskies have also lost three signed players from the transfer portal in Mississippi State quarterback Will Rogers, Vanderbilt linebacker Ethan Barr and Fresno State tight end Tre Watson, with Barr turning to Central Florida and Watson to Texas A&M. 

Lair was a 3-star defensive back from Fort Bend Marshall High School in Missouri City, which is located southwest of Houston, and he drew a lot of recruiting attention.

A month ago, DeBoer spoke glowingly of the 6-foot- 1, 185-pound player and his physical style.

"Josh, he's just a missile, coming downhill," DeBoer said. "He loves to come down and attack, not just the passing game but at the line of scrimmage, and makes a lot of plays in the backfield."

In the end, the safety picked the Huskies over Texas and Baylor. He held 28 scholarship offers that also included Michigan, Texas A&M, LSU, Florida Oklahoma, Oregon and Tennessee.

Lair explained how he built strong relationships with then Husky cornerbacks coach Juice Brown, co-defensive coordinator Chuck Morrell and DeBoer during the process. 

“All three of those guys — coach Juice, coach Morrell and coach DeBoer — they’re all intentional,” Lair said. “And I like intentional people because I’m intentional. So it only feels right. They kept it real from the jump and just stayed in touch on a regular basis.”

He still had a lot of people asking how he could bypass the Longhorns and other Texas schools to commit to the Huskies so far away.

“I was confident in my decision,” he said. “But, yeah, I most definitely knew people were surprised like, ‘Wow, you really chose Washington over Texas and other schools?’ But, hey, I felt comfortable at Washington. I felt Washington is where I could see myself developing as a player and a young man.” 

Not anymore.

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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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