Inside The Huskies

Huskies Receive Commitment from No. 1 Oregon Player for 2026

Running back Ansu Sanoe chooses Huskies over Georgia, Texas A&M and others.

Dan Raley

Ansu Sanoe has committed to the UW for the Class of 2026.
Ansu Sanoe has committed to the UW for the Class of 2026. / Dan Brood/Fan Nation

Running back Ansu Sanoe, a top 100 player nationally and the No. 1 Oregon prospect for 2026, committed to the University of Washington on Wednesday, apparently finding no need for his recruitment to play out any longer.

Of Liberian heritage, the 6-foot-2, 210-pound back has built a heady reputation as a 4-star player after completing only his freshmen and sophomore football seasons at Lakeridge High School in Lake Oswego, Oregon.

According to his 247Sports recruiting profile, Sanoe also held offers from Georgia, Miami, Tennessee, and Texas A&M.

His decision had to be somewhat of a blow to the University of Oregon, which took great joy in pulling the top player out of Washington this past year in linebacker Brayden Platt from Yelm High School and enjoying a recruiting ratings dominance.

"Washington is close to family and a perfect opportunity to reach my dream of playing in the NFL with an amazing coaching staff and people," Sanoe told Greg Biggins.

A powerful runner with explosive speed, he rushed 110 times for 661 yards and 8 touchdowns in eight games this past season for an 8-3 Lakeridge team, this after picking up 561 yards on 76 carries for 7 scores, 9 overall when adding in a pair of receiving TDs, as a freshman, according to Max Preps.

Sanoe is American born after his parents immigrated from war-torn Liberia, arriving two decades ago. His mother, Agnes, recounted to Fan Nation how she left Liberia as a 22-year-old during its second of multiple civil wars that lasted from 1999 to 2003. She arrived in America as a 22-year-old after fleeing to a camp that proved to be a safe haven.

And now her son, Ansu, is a football star, with a scholarship to the UW in line, determined to make everything happen.

“Growing up, I knew that by putting in the hard work, all this would come,” Sanoe told Fan Nation. “So I’m happy that these things are coming to light. It’s just motivation to keep on going harder.”

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Dan Raley
DAN RALEY

Dan Raley has worked for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, as well as for MSN.com and Boeing, the latter as a global aerospace writer. His sportswriting career spans four decades and he's covered University of Washington football and basketball during much of that time. In a working capacity, he's been to the Super Bowl, the NBA Finals, the MLB playoffs, the Masters, the U.S. Open, the PGA Championship and countless Final Fours and bowl games.

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