Inside The Huskies

Huskies Gain Commitment from Oakland Speedster

Deji Ajose comes from the same high school that sent eventual NFL TE Eric Bjornson to the UW.

Dan Raley

Wide receiver Deji Ajose takes a photo with his host coaches.
Wide receiver Deji Ajose takes a photo with his host coaches. / UW

Without all the pomp and circumstance of other recruits, Deji Ajose in his own way committed to the University of Washington football program on Saturday, choosing the Huskies over Utah, California and Oregon State.

He held no news conference, no YouTube channel pronouncement, no showy gymnasium reveal. Instead, he posted a simple video on social media that showed him first speak to family members by phone, then go to the front door and unzip his sweatshirt to reveal a UW T-shirt.

The big question now, once Jedd Fisch's coaches get him to Seattle, is where should they play him?

The 6-foot-2, 190-pound Ajose, a 3-star recruit from Oakland's Bishop O'Dowd High School, posed for official visit photos in Montlake with UW receivers coach Kevin Cummings, so that's a good indication of what the initial plans are for him.

The Huskies now have 17 commitments in their current recruiting class, including fellow wide receivers Raiden Vines-Bright from Tempe, Arizona, and Dezmen Roebuck from Marana, Arizona.

Yet with his 4.5-second, 40-yard speed and 10.9 time over 100 meters, Ajose also plays safety or even linebacker, plus returns kicks, all of which he did for a 6-5 O'Dowd football team this past season, before joining the track team in the spring.

The Huskies do have a history of taking a talented Bishop O'Dowd football player and experimenting with him until they found the right position for him.

In 1993, the UW made O'Dowd's 6-foot-5, 215-pound Eric Bjornson a starting quarterback for three games, competing with Damon Huard, before moving him to wide receiver, where he started all 11 games in 1994 and led the Huskies in receiving with 49 catches for 770 yarss and 7 touchdowns.

Eventually, Bjornson became an NFL tight end for the Dallas Cowboys and the New England Patriots. He was part of the Cowboys team that won Super Bowl XXX 27-17 over the Pittsburgh Steelers and former Husky tight end Mark Bruener, current UW linebacker Carson Bruener's dad.

Now comes Ajose, who had modest receiving totals of 28 catches for 277 yards and 3 touchdowns for the Dragons in 2023. Defensively, he finished with 4 tackles for loss and 3.5 sacks among 11 tackles, and he had 2 pass break-ups and 2 forced fumbles, according to Max Preps.

The thing about speed, as the UW coaches will tell you, is they can always find a good spot for it.

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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