Inside The Huskies

Huskies Offer Precocious Texas Running Back from Class of 2026

JO Osborne ran for just under 1,000 yards as a ninth-grader.

Dan Raley

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He was the last of six Texans to publicly reveal he'd received a weekend scholarship offer from the University of Washington, with this flurry of Monday announcements coming all at once, and he stands as the youngest of this chosen group.

Could he be the best? And if so, will he ultimately pick the Huskies.

Javian "JO" Osborne has plenty of time to think about it. 

He's coming off his freshman season as a breakaway running back for suburban Dallas' Forney High School and this Class of 2026 recruit carries plenty of ahead-of-his-time credentials as well as the football.

For a 7-4 team, Osborne rushed the ball 144 times for 977 yards and 8 touchdown. His season stats were greatly enhanced by an 182-yard outburst that included a 51-yard scoring dash in a 20-6 victory over McKinney North. He turned in five 100-yard outings.

This ninth-grader is faster and shiftier than the cadre of Texas running backs imported by Jimmy Lake's UW staff — Jay'Veon Sunday, Caleb Berry and Emeka Megwa — all of whom have transferred out since the Husky coaching change to Kalen DeBoer. Berry now plays for Incarnate Word in San Antonio, while Megwa walked on at Oklahoma.

With his recruiting just getting started, the youthful Osborne holds offers from SMU, Texas Tech, UTSA and the Huskies. 

For the week, the Huskies offered seven Texans in Osborne and his Forney cornerback and teammate Aaron Flowers; South Oak Cliff linebackers JJ Shelton and Brandon Jones, Red Oak edge rusher Kamouryn Morgan, Summit edge rusher Legend Journey and Judson safety Myles Davis.

 

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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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