Five-star safety Jett Washington, the nephew of late NBA legend Kobe Bryant, committed to play his college football at Oregon on Thursday. The Las Vegas (Nev.) Bishop Gorman product will join the Ducks’ haul as the No. 18 overall recruit and second-ranked safety in the 2026 class, per 247Sports.
Washington trimmed his list to the trio of Oregon, USC and Alabama and took an official visit to each of those schools over the last three weeks. He was initially set to stop at Ohio State, too, but he replaced the Buckeyes visit with a return trip to Oregon. The Ducks and Crimson Tide were long considered favorites to contend for Washington’s commitment as they were the first two programs to schedule official visits with the blue-chip talent.
In the end, Oregon won out, easing the sting of losing out on five-star athlete Brandon Arrington to Texas A&M earlier Thursday.
“I’ve built a great relationship with them,” Washington told 247Sports. “I went up there for the Ohio State game last season, and it’s a place I could see myself at. My relationship with the coaches has been big. When you’re there, you feel the energy. It’s everywhere inside that building and just being around coach Dan Lanning, he’s a defensive head coach and always involved in the defense, so you know you’re going to get development.”
Myriad other College Football Playoff contenders extended offers to Washington throughout his process, including Georgia, Michigan, Notre Dame, Penn State, Tennessee, Texas and others.
Washington debuted in the recruiting rankings as a top-100 overall prospect in Aug. 2023 and climbed the ladder from that point onward. He ranked as highly as No. 15 overall midway through his junior season at Bishop Gorman.
In that 2024 campaign, Washington logged career highs across the board and emerged as a star defender en route to a Nevada 5A state championship. He hauled in the MaxPreps Nevada Player of the Year award and landed on the MaxPreps Junior All-American team after he racked up 38 tackles, five interceptions, a pair of pass breakups and a forced fumble. That was a step forward from his sophomore year in which he accumulated 37 stops and two takeaways.
In an evaluation this spring, 247Sports director of scouting Andrew Ivins labeled “the next can’t-miss talent to come out of Bishop Gorman” and noted his positional flexibility across the defensive backfield at 6-foot-5 and 210 pounds.
Washington is Oregon-bound as a football prospect, but he also followed in his uncle’s footsteps and played basketball for Bishop Gorman. He shined with the Gaels during their run to back-to-back state titles in 2024 and 2025 and tallied 21 points in last season’s championship game.
Oregon now has its first five-star commitment in its 2026 class, which gives coach Dan Lanning a boost in talent acquisition momentum entering the summer. Lanning made waves on the recruiting trail this time a year ago when he scooped up numerous marquee prospects, including top-ranked wide receiver Dakorien Moore, to build one of the best classes in school history.