After arriving in Seattle on Thursday, June 23rd, it didn’t take long for four-star defensive lineman Anthony James to announce his commitment to Washington. The product of Wylie East (Texas) High School and former Texas A&M commit is currently the highest-rated recruit in head coach Kalen DeBoer’s first full recruiting class as head coach.

“It happened about an hour after I got to campus, right after we finished breakfast,” James said. “I met with Coach DeBoer in his office, and he asked me ‘what do I have to do to make you a Dawg?’ And I told him ‘you know what? I’m ready to commit.’ After that, he ran screaming out of his office ‘we’ve got a Dawg!’ and all the players around came up and congratulated me.”

So what did it take to secure a commitment from the defensive lineman currently rated as the 54th overall player in the country by 247 Sports? First of all, it was more than just James’ decision, he said his family and high school coaches both played a big factor in choosing Washington.

“They really earned this commitment,” he said. “The entire staff put in the time every week to text and call me, my family, and my coaches to check in on us. We barely even talk about football, and I really trust them and I feel like I can go to them with anything going on in my life, and that really means a lot to me.”

James was one of six commitments between Friday, June 24th, and Sunday, June 26th, and he said that everyone who announced their commitment had the exact same feeling, that this coaching staff is building something special, and they’re able to communicate that in the best way possible.

“It’s the attention to detail,” he said. “They know football, but they got close to everyone before we even started talking about football. They earned our trust, and showed you that they cared about us as people. They stuck with it and earned everybody’s trust, and that really showed with everyone that committed this weekend. All those guys saw the same thing as me, these coaches are truly building something special.” 

He went on to note that his primary recruiters were director of player personnel Courtney Morgan, defensive line coach Inoke Breckterfield, and DeBoer.

“Coach [Breckterfield] makes me feel welcome, and he’s one of the coaches that really took the time with me,” he said. “He really knows his stuff on the field too, and he said that he’s planning to use me both inside and on the edge.”

James has also taken ownership of Washington’s class on social media in the days following his commitment and said he has one long-time friend that he would love to link up with as teammates on Montlake.

“I’m trying to see if I can get Trey Wilson to be a Dawg too,” he said. “It would be great to have someone that I’ve been close with for a long time with me.”

James said he’s planning on enrolling early and being on campus for spring football, although he isn’t sure if he’ll be arriving on campus in January or March of 2023 just yet. He’s also planning on taking another unofficial visit to Washington for their primetime matchup with Michigan State on September 17th.