On the weekend of the January 28th 2024 linebacker product Kamar Mothudi visited the Washington camps and loved every minute.

In the 60’s his family name was changed from Smith to Mothudi (pronounced “Moh-Toody”) which in Botswana means blacksmith.

“It was a name-change by my grandfather when he was in grad school at UC San Diego after an encounter with some international students,” he said.

The change was to have a last name that was reflective of their African heritage rather than one associated with a plantation in America.

Mothudi, has seen his star rise since the end of his junior season. His defensive stats speak for themselves:

—111 total tackles
—80 solo tackles
—17 tackless for loss
—2 interceptions
—4 sacks

Heading up the recruitment of Mothudi is linebacker’s coach William Inge but he speaks with other coaches frequently.

”Coach Marks (UW running backs coach) jokes that he’s going to switch me to offense,” Kamar said.

On the offensive side of the ball he had 1,617 rushing yards scored 18 times on the ground. At 6-3 and 230 pounds, he has the size that would make Husky Legend Corey Dillon blush.

“Coach Inge is the one that extended the offer but Coach DeBoer and Coach Marks were there too,” he said. “I talk to everybody really—all the coaches.”

But Inge and he have built a great relationship since receiving the offer last year.

”I talk to him every day,” Mothudi said. “If not a call, it’s a text.”

His Washington offer came out of the blue and he hadn’t heard from UW until the day he received the offer.

”I didn’t even know that they were looking at me. The most I had heard from them was when I got a follow from Courtney Morgan (director of player personnel) on Twitter,” he recalled.

The offer came at the Redlands Camp last June.

“They had been up to my school before that but I didn’t get a chance to talk to them,” he said.

That day he also picked up offers from Colorado State, Fresno State, and his first Power 5 offer: Washington.

The Huskies built up a head start in developing a solid relationship before his star rose on the heels of a breakout junior campaign. Over the course of a few weeks, he picked up six Pac-12 offers. First two beginning in October from Cal and Oregon State. Arizona, Oregon, Utah, and Arizona State soon followed.

He’s now up to 12 offers but Washington appears to be the team to beat.

“They genuinely care about their players,” he said about the Washington coaches after his visit to the campus at the end of January.

He said that at other schools the vibe given off is that “you’re just a part of the system—a cog.”

“Going through your touring seeing the players, talking to the players, even the coaches how they talk about their own players they really do care and love every single one,” he said.

He received former Washington coach Don James recruiting trip vibe because of the family atmosphere.

”From Michael Penix at the top to the guy that’s just getting into the program is cared about and loved. That’s what really stood out to me,” he said.

It was a wire-to-wire recruiting trip that began bright and early.

“When I walked in at 7am I looked to my left and I saw this whole throne and lights and I was like ‘woah’,” he recalled. “Everybody’s there to greet me. It was great energy.”

At other school’s junior days that he’s been a part of he felt like a part of a cattle call.

“I was assigned a clipboard number and moved around with a huge group,” he said of other school’s recruiting events. “They’d yell, ‘ALRIGHT EVERYBODY THIS WAY’.”

At Washington the group was 30-40 but he felt the personal attention.

”I still felt like they were focused on me. It was a great feeling to get. It was truly awesome,” he gushed. “I really did love it. It was amazing.”

The attention to detail throughout his visit was impressive, but it was the quality time with coaches was the best thing that he took away with him.

“I got to spend 30 minutes one-on-one with Coach DeBoer,” he said. “He talked with all of these people but then it was just us.”

The conversation with the head coach was impactful but the entire football staff showed him love.

“It seemed like all of the staff knew who I was,” he said. “I’d go through and introduce myself and everybody is like, ‘of course we already know you. I saw your game against this team or I saw your picture on Twitter,’ and I’m like wow they all knew who I was, knew what school I went to.”

He finished up his night hanging out with new-comer and early enrollee linebacker Jordan Whitney.

However, what was indelibly etched in his mind was his trip from his hotel to Husky Stadium.

“It was early morning, we’re driving up and all I’m seeing is purple,” he said. “I thought it was the sun rising then I was like no it’s the stadium.”

“Pulling up to the Husky Stadium I was like gosh it’s beautiful, the sun peeking through the clouds, I looked around and I could see silhouette of Bellevue through the lighting. It was gorgeous. Oh my gosh the water. It was amazing,” he recalled.

Home. Run.