Bethel’s Rainey-Sale is Washington’s top-rated 2025 recruit. He’s still uncommitted
Things were shaping up nicely for Washington football fans on the morning of Monday, Jan. 8. The Huskies were playing in the national championship game against the Michigan Wolverines that evening. Making things even sweeter: Bethel High School linebacker Zaydrius Rainey-Sale, the state’s No. 1 rated recruit in the 2025 class, verbally committed to UW that morning.
Then the Huskies were thoroughly handled by Michigan in the title game, UW coach Kalen DeBoer bolted for Tuscaloosa days later and Rainey-Sale reopened his recruitment, the cherry on top.
Life comes at you fast, they say.
“Big eye-opener,” Rainey-Sale told The News Tribune last week after school let out for the day. “It happened so fast.”
That’s life in the college football recruiting world these days. For players and coaches alike, loyalty exists until it doesn’t, whether swayed by a new gig, a shiny car, a pile of NIL money or the promises of greener grass in the transfer portal.
Truth be told, Rainey-Sale doesn’t care for the recruiting process. He understands the game and the nature of the business. So when college football coaches from all over the country visit him at his Spanaway high school, the 6-foot-2, 220-pound linebacker doesn’t want to talk about all the off the field stuff. He wants to get down to business.
“I don’t like (the recruiting process) at all,” he said. “It’s crazy. Sometimes it just feels janky. People will be saying stuff just to say stuff.”
Rainey-Sale just wants to talk ball.
“They be wanting to talk about everything else, I just want to talk about football,” he said. “Let’s get to talking about some plays already.”
Rainey-Sale, considered a four-star recruit by 247sports.com and the No. 1 player in Washington in the 2025 class, holds 16 offers, from the likes of UW, Oregon, Alabama, Florida State, Miami and others.
He’s somewhat soft spoken but carries himself with confidence. He’s smart, too — Bethel coach Travis Domser tells recruiters not to come during the school’s fifth period, when Rainey-Sale has AP Calculus.
“He really likes to learn, he’s a learner,” Domser said. “He plays with a huge, high motor, plays fast, is not scared. He’s just the real deal. I haven’t coached a lot of kids who have gone to the NFL, but if there’s a prototypical kid that could be in the NFL one day, it’d be Zay.”
When recruiters come to Bethel, Rainey-Sale uses it as an opportunity to pick their brains.
“He’s taking advantage of these coaches that come in to get one piece of knowledge from every coach that comes in,” Domser said. “He loves the board time. They get on the board with him, show him some things and that’s when he lights up.”
Domser estimates around 20 Division I coaches have visited Rainey-Sale in the past two-and-half weeks.
“He embraces everybody,” Domser said. “Everybody that comes through the door, he wants to see. He doesn’t have ego with one or the other. We’ve had some pretty big-time coaches here and it’s been fun for everybody. I think Zay enjoys the football part, not necessarily the recruiting part. But he does a great job with everybody.”
Domser always tells his players to have questions ready to ask recruiters when they visit. That’s no problem for Rainey-Sale.
“He fires questions off,” Domser said, smiling. “A lot of kids, when coaches come in and ask, ‘What questions do you have for me?’ They kind of sit there and don’t say anything. Zay has five questions ready to go. … They’re very responsible, mature questions.
“And I think that goes a long way with those coaches, too. They see a mature, smart, intense young man in front of them and it improves his value to those schools immensely.”
Rainey-Sale, who was born in Hawaii before moving to Washington when he was four years old, was first offered by Colorado in November 2022, toward the end of his sophomore season. He was training at Ford Sports Performance when he took the call. His mom, Tanya Sale, was the first person he told.
“It didn’t feel real,” he said. “I was like, dang. I was speechless. The only thing that came to mind was just to keep my head low and keep going.”
After that, his recruiting blew up. First Nevada. Then Oregon State. Then Washington, WSU, Penn State, Arizona, Oregon, Florida State and others. He missed some time with injury during his junior season, but when on the field, was a menace for Bethel, which boasted the 4A SPSL’s top run defense last fall.
“He’s a difference maker on the field,” Domser said. “It doesn’t matter if it’s pass rush, in the pass game, in the run game, he is a difference maker. When he’s not out there, whether it’s in a game or a practice, we feel it. When it can impact your practices, you know you have a really good player.
“Game nights, he is a huge factor. You have to run away from him. You have to scheme for him. It’s hard, he’s going to make plays all over the field. He’s just a motor.”
Rainey-Sale plans to take a few more official visits during the spring with an eye on committing at the beginning of his senior season. He considers Tacoma “home” but said he doesn’t care whether he stays on the west coast or goes south.
“I just go where the competition goes,” he said. “Wherever the competition is, I’m there.”
CLASS OF 2025 NUGGETS-IN-WAITING
LB Jonathan Epperson, Auburn Riverside (Auburn, Wash.)
OL Demetri Manning, Bellevue (Bellevue, Wash.)
TE Baron Naone, West Linn (West Linn, Ore.)
LB Zaydrius Rainey-Sale, Bethel (Spanaway, Wash.)
TE T’Andre Waverly, Kamiak (Mukilteo, Wash.)
