Uber-talented Josh Conerly Jr. Comes Home to Face the Huskies

The Seattle product is Oregon's starting left tackle as a sophomore.

Josh Conerly Jr. emerged from Seattle's Rainier Beach High School, advertised as the nation's top offensive-line prospect and a 5-star recruit, when he picked Oregon over Washington, Oklahoma, Michigan and Miami. Everyone wanted him.

Though he was just down the street, Conerly was never going to play for the Huskies. Take your pick for the reason: 1) Oregon presented a much more attractive NIL offer that dwarfed the one in Montlake; 2) then-Husky coach Jimmy Lake had a weird way of making recruits sell him on them, not the other way around;  3) the UW program became an unforgivable mess; or 4) all of the above.

Today, Conerly is the high-level college football player everyone expected him to be as he prepares for Saturday's game at Husky Stadium and his first opportunity to play in his hometown as a college kid. 

Just a sophomore, the 6-foot-4, 305-pound Conerly is Oregon's starting left tackle — already holding down the NFL's money position. 

He'll have so many family and friends watching the Oregon-UW game and felt such a squeeze for tickets, he had to inform some of them that they had to buy their own seats. Conerly also knows not everyone in the stands will be warmly welcoming him back to town, largely because he didn't sign up with the Huskies.

"I really just made the best decision for me and my family," he said. "I got a lot of hostility from fans in Seattle, but it wasn't their decision to make."

Otherwise, the prospects of playing in an overly familiar Husky Stadium have his rapt interest. He has considerable history there.

"I definitely means a lot to me," Conerly said. "I finally get to play in a stadium that I grew up watching tons of games in, you know what I mean. I think it'll be a great experience."

He's pulled 305 snaps this season up front for the Ducks, the second-highest total among the starting offensive linemen and just five behind the leader, junior center Jackson Powers-Johnson. 

As a freshman in 2022, Conerly appeared in all 13 games as a sub or a special-teamer, more than enough to catch a 4-yard touchdown pass against Colorado, demonstrating his lineman mobility. 

This weekend, he'll pause for a long moment to soak in the familiar surroundings and then he'll get down to business.

"It's always super crazy," Conerly said. "Purple out, that's how it is. I'm sure I'll be ready for it."

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