Rainier Beach 5-star offensive lineman Josh Conerly Jr. commits to Oregon
Rainier Beach High School (Seattle, Wash.) offensive lineman Josh Conerly Jr. announced his long-awaited commitment to Oregon in front of friends and family at Rainier Beach High School, pulling a Ducks hat out of his backpack on a broadcast on CBS Sports HQ.
Conerly is considered the No. 1 offensive lineman in the nation in the 2022 class by 247Sports.com, the top player in Washington and the No. 8 player nationally overall.
The buzz had been around USC in recent weeks, with Oregon flying a bit under the radar. Conerly chose the Ducks over a top six that also included USC, Miami, Michigan, Oklahoma and the hometown Washington Huskies.
Conerly was part of The News Tribune’s 2022 class of Northwest Nuggets, which features the top high school football recruits in the Pacific Northwest. He grew up playing running back and made the switch to the line in high school, quickly blossoming into a highly-coveted recruit.
He joins Puyallup lineman Dave Iuli — the state’s No. 2-ranked offensive lineman in this class — who signed with Oregon in February.
It’s another in-state recruiting miss for UW, which has struggled to keep the state’s top-end talent home the past few years.
The Huskies missed out on each of the top five in-state linemen in the class in Conerly, Iuli, Todd Beamer’s Malik Agbo (Texas), O’Dea’s Mark Nabou (Texas A&M) and Graham-Kapowsin’s Vega Ioane (Penn State).
UW also signed only two of the top 10 recruits in the state in 2022, per 247Sports composite rankings, in Tumwater tight end Ryan Otton and Sumner safety Tristan Dunn.
Top in-state recruits headed elsewhere include the five linemen, Union wide receiver Tobias Merriweather (Notre Dame), Eastside Catholic linebacker Dishawn Misa (Boise State) and Graham-Kapowsin tight end and outside linebacker Andrew Savaiinaea (Florida).
This story was originally published April 8, 2022 at 6:16 PM.
