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Latest Molden Has Narrowed His College Choices

A defensive back like his brother and dad, Josiah has six options on the table.
Dan Raley|
Josiah Molden has narrowed his college choices to six.
Josiah Molden has narrowed his college choices to six. | Molden

In the Molden family, everyone seems to feel empowered if not compelled to go their own way, to, shall we say, break the mold.

Alex Molden, the dad, left Colorado to come play cornerback for the University of Oregon before embarking on an NFL career.

Elijah Molden, the second oldest of eight children, spurned the Ducks to play nickel back for the University of Washington and just finished his fifth pro football season.

Now comes Josiah Molden, yet another defensive back who plays for West Linn High School in the Portland suburbs -- maybe the best one in the family -- who on Monday revealed he has narrowed his college choices to six schools.

Miami, Ohio State, Oregon, Texas, USC and Washington.

By now, those in Seattle and Eugene know this particular Molden, a 4-star prospect with a 6-foot, 185-pound frame, could just as easily pick one of those four other schools in a sign of furthering his independence as opposed to going to the UW or UO.

No doubt, being part of a lineup that counts eight siblings has a lot to do with wanting to do your own thing.

This one is very talented. Josiah Molden is considered the No. 1 player in Oregon for 2027, was an all-state and all-conference selection, and comes off a junior season in which he was just as good offensively as he was on defense.

Used as a wide receiver, he caught 39 passes for 613 yards and 7 touchdowns for an 11-1 Lions team.

At corner, he finished with 35 tackles, 12 pass break-ups and an interception while sitting out a pair of games.

As a sophomore, Molden was named all-state and all-league while finishing with 33 tackles, 14 PBUs and 2 interceptions similarly for an 11-1 team.

As a ninth-grader, this talented player was named first-team all-conference and also freshman of the year. He had 32 tackles, 18 PBUs, 2 forced fumbles and 2 interceptions, returning one of the past thefts for a touchdown.

One would be hard-pressed to find another high school defensive back anywhere with career totals of 100 tackles, 44 PBUs and 5 interceptions and yet another full season to play.

If this next Molden doesn't select the UW or Oregon, the best bet, considering the online attention that's been given to his recruiting visits and the frequency of his outside interactions, is he might be Notre Dame bound.

There's a South Bend sideline photo here and a Marcus Freeman image there.

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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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