Inside The Huskies

Former UW Commit Sharma to Choose Again -- Huskies Remain in His Final 4

The Northern California defensive lineman previously was pledged to DeBoer's staff.

Dan Raley

Josiah Sharma, once committed to UW, will choose a college again this week, and the Huskies remain in the mix.
Josiah Sharma, once committed to UW, will choose a college again this week, and the Huskies remain in the mix. / UW

Six hours before the Sugar Bowl kickoff, Josiah Sharma used the spotlight to commit to Kalen DeBoer's University of Washington football team as it prepared to meet Texas on New Year's Day in the CFP semifinals.

He was a 6-foot-5, 295-pound defensive tackle from Sacramento, California, still largely an unknown player to the general recruiting landscape, but someone DeBoer's staff felt was a real find. The previous May, the Huskies gave him his first scholarship offer. He wound up choosing the UW over Washington State, Nevada and Jedd Fisch''s Arizona program.

Sharma, of course, would de-commit from the UW once DeBoer moved to Alabama and reopen his recruitment. On Jan. 27, he posted both how he was pulling away from his Husky pledge and had received an offer from Alabama. Funny how all of that works in concert.

On Friday at noon PT, without the Sugar Bowl as a ready backdrop, Sharma will announce another college football commitment, choosing from among Alabama, Oregon, Texas and the UW on the 247Sports YouTube channel.

He's a totally different recruiting commodity now, going from a regional prospect to a full-blown national target. People found out about him. They see the possibilities in his size and athleticism.

He's also transferred from Sacramento's Inderkum High School to Folsom High, moving to the prison town where eventual Husky standout and four-year starterJake Browning and and one-time UW freshman prodigy Austin Mack were once quarterbacks.

From a handful of offers, Sharma has accumulated 23, with Florida, Georgia, LSU, Michigan and USC among his pursuers. He's visited many of them and been told how great he is.

He is rated as a 3-star prospect, according to 247 Sports. He and 3-star quarterback Jackson Kollock from Laguna Beach, California, were the first two 2025 commits for DeBoer's Husky staff before all of that came undone. Kollock since has pledged to Minnesota.

Sharma now has both Sugar Bowl teams among his final four choices, in the Huskies and the Longhorns; DeBoer, who coached in that game and whose UW staff first recognized his talent potential all along; and finally Oregon, which seemingly gets a residual nod from everyone in the recruiting process because it offers college football Disneyland.

For the latest UW football and basketball news, go to si.com/college/washington

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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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