Running back Jay’Veon Sunday is a Dawg

Jay’Veon Sunday, one of two running backs in this class — along with local guy Sam Adams from Eastside Catholic — has officially signed with Washington.

Sunday, a three-star from Waco, chose UW over a handful of SEC, Big 12, and Pac-12 offers including Arkansas, Kansas State, Colorado, Utah, and the primary competitor and hometown school, Baylor. Citing Washington’s off-field philosophy and the desire for a new environment away from Waco, Sunday committed back in May and hasn’t (publicly, at least) wavered since.

Despite not having the highest recruiting ranking — Sunday’s 247Sports composite is .866 — he’s been one of my personal favorite sleeper stars since committing; he’s 5’11”, 195 lbs, and runs almost Marshawn Lynch-ian with a knack for crushing opponents. Simply put, he looks absolutely demoralizing to play against. In that way, his high school film reminds me of if Taylor Rapp or peak-Azeem Victor were running backs: bruising, soul-crushing, and someone whose effects are felt increasingly as a game goes on in opponents’ willingness (or lack thereof) to get involved with him. Furthermore, his vision and patience is at a pretty high level for a high school player.

With this skill set, he’s predictably not a Salvon Ahmed-style burner, but he’s still faster than his funky running style suggests. And the great thing about a running backs room is that combining players with different running styles creates very entertaining (and more successful) results.

Check out his Hudl here (and watch for the 1:10 marker for a moment of “Well how the heck is he gonna get out of this jam?”):

Do good things, don’t do bad things, and bow down to Washington.