Washington clearly made an impression on Liberty (Nevada) three-star athlete Landon Bell, who officially announced his commitment to the Huskies on Sunday. He becomes the first player to commit to Kalen DeBoer’s class of 2024, and the first from an enormous group of visitors that watched the now 18th-ranked Huskies defeat the then 11th-ranked Michigan State Spartans 39-28 on Saturday night.

Even though he’s listed as an athlete, the 6’3, 185-pound Bell will be playing wide receiver when he steps on campus. Bell has accumulated seven offers so far, including one from Mel Tucker and Michigan State. It sounds like he saw everything he needed to in Washington’s matchup with the Spartans before making his decision.

“I was 60% sure going into the game,” he said in an interview with Realdawg.com about where the Huskies sat in his recruitment. “But oh my gosh, I’ve never seen anything like Husky Stadium before.”

The atmosphere was a huge factor in the game, and it seemed like a lot of recruits, including Bell took notice of what Husky stadium feels like during a big game.

“That was a crazy atmosphere, and I can’t wait to score a touchdown in front of the students,” he added.

The first recruit in what could be a huge class of 2024, Bell has an opportunity to become a peer recruiter after visiting at the perfect time. Not only did the Huskies blow out the #11 team in the country, but there were a large number of unofficial visitors from the next recruiting cycle on hand, including O’Dea (Wash.) running back Jason Brown, Yelm (Wash.) linebacker Brayden Platt, fellow Nevada resident, Desert Pines cornerback Isaiah Pines, and Mater Dei (Calif.) cornerback Khristian Dunbar-Hawkins among others.

The coaching staff has an opportunity to build on what looks like a very strong season, and building on that with the class of 2024 is going to be very important. Bell is a great way to kick off the class.