Inside The Huskies

SoCal Edge Rusher Has UW Among Final 3, Husky Influence Everywhere

Anthony Jones from the class of 2026 is looking at Tennessee, UCLA and Washington.
Dan Raley|
Anthony Jones and former UW co-defensive coordinator William Inge share a moment on a Tennessee visit.
Anthony Jones and former UW co-defensive coordinator William Inge share a moment on a Tennessee visit. | Tennessee

Like it or not, Anthony "Poppa" Jones is going to get a taste of Husky football no matter where he chooses to play the college game.

On Monday, the 6-foot-5, 260-pound edge rusher from Crean Lutheran High School in Irvine, California, revealed to Rivals.com he has narrowed his recruitment to three schools -- Tennessee, UCLA and Washington.

As the January 8th photo accompanying this story indicates, former UW co-defensive coordinator William Inge is the Tennessee point man in trying to coax Jones, a 4-star recruit from the Class of 2026, to Knoxville and the SEC.

"Great talk with my guy," the edge rusher posted after touring the Volunteers program.

As for UCLA, Jones no doubt is hearing recruiting pitches at times from Bruins defensive coordinator Ikaika Malloe, the former Huskies safety and linebacker and a UW edge-rusher coach for Jimmy Lake.

Huskies current defensive-line coach Jason Kaufusi no doubt is leading the effort to bring the top 30 California recruit to Montlake.

In cutting his schools to three, Jones parted ways with Michigan and Arizona State, who were listed among his top five as far back as September.

For a 9-3 and playoff-bound Crean team as a junior, this physical looking edge rusher finished with 54 tackles, 8 tackles for loss, 8.5 sacks and an interception. He has accumulated 15.5 sacks over the past two seasons.

On social media, Jones has indicated he will visit the UW on March 8 and likely meet with new UW defensive coordinator Ryan Walters and get better acquainted with Kaufusi.

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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