West Linn's Josiah Molden named Oregon's top defensive back: SBLive/SI preseason football awards

Andrew Nemec | Aug 30, 2024

West Linn's Josiah Molden /

With the 2024 Oregon high school football season set to kickoff next week, we're handing out our SBLive/SI preseason awards.

Defensive back: Josiah Molden, West Linn

The defensive back award is often tricky to give out, as safeties dominate tackles and often-picked-on cornerbacks register interceptions.

But there's a good chance West Linn sophomore Josiah Molden doesn't stand out statistically.

Why?

Quarterback are terrified to throw the ball in his vicinity.

Molden is rated the nation's No. 4 cornerback in the class of 2027 and has the potential to post a “zero completions against” season as a defensive back before his high school career is over.

Molden is the most polished defensive back I’ve seen at his age and has an NFL ceiling - just like his father, Alex Molden, and his brother, Elijah Molden.

Of note, Elijah Molden's best season saw him give up just one completion - a third-down toss that was still well short of the first down.

Just throwing it out there.

Other names to watch include West Salem's Evan Wusstig, Lakeridge's Zyon Floyd, Tigard's Trevin Laird, Mountainside duo Madden Tanuvasa and Kellen Hicks and Nelson's Chaz Katoanga.

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