Jason Brown Jr's recruiting still a mystery as Oregon, Washington jockey for position
Much like last week's on-field top-10 matchup, the recruiting race between the Oregon Ducks and Washington Huskies for top class-of-2024 running back Jason Brown Jr. appears headed down to the wire.
The four-star O'Dea standout attended the Huskies' wild 36-33 victory over Oregon in Seattle last Saturday, and called it the "best football game I have ever been to in my life."
"My heart was racing that whole game," Brown Jr. told SBLive WA correspondent Matt Massey after he rushed for a game-high 231 yards and four touchdowns in O'Dea's 49-13 win over Garfield that clinched the 3A Metro League title.
"My ear drum probably should have blown out."
Brown Jr. confirmed his same three recruiting finalists - Michigan State, Oregon and Washington.
As of now, it appears the frontrunners are the Ducks and Huskies, who have made a renewed push for the state's No. 3 recruit overall, according to 247Sports.com.
Each school has a different lure. With the Huskies, it's being the home-town program he grew up cheering for.
"Growing up, I watched UW games," Brown Jr. said. "I used to record them on cable so after my little league game I could come back and watch (ex-O'Dea standout) Myles Gaskin run the ball."
At the UW-Oregon game last Saturday, Brown Jr. noticed a different trend with the Huskies in how they utilized primary tailback Dillon Johnson.
"Really ... their ability to feature the back," Brown Jr. said. "Throughout previous games, I had not seen it at that level."
Brown Jr. is in the midst of a state player of the year-type season as a senior. The 5-foot-10, 205-pounder has amassed 1,365 yards and 26 touchdowns in O'Dea's eight games, all victories.
With nearly 5,900 career yards and 82 touchdowns, he has already eclipsed Gaskin (5,065 yards, 75 TDs) as the program's all-time leading rusher - and is close to jumping inside the top five for career rushing yards in state history.
Needless to say, how a college team utilizes its tailback is of paramount importance to the shifty Brown Jr.
As far as last weekend's game, did he cheer the UW's win over Oregon?
Sort of.
"As a natural-born UW fan, I celebrated it," he said. "At the end of the day, I was happy to see a good football game."
