Nine months ago Bralen Trice was receiving interest from a handful of programs, but none had stepped up with a scholarship offer.

Fast forward to Saturday morning where the once unranked defensive end from Phoenix, Arizona, now a four-star prospect according to Rivals.com rankings, announced his college decision.

Trice, a 6-foot-4 and 230-pound rush-end from Sandra Day O’Connor High School, became the 17th verbal commitment for Washington on Saturday, choosing the Huskies over his two other finalists, Notre Dame and Oregon.

UW was the first program to offer Trice, at the time an unranked prospect by Rivals, back in February. Since then all but two Pac-12 schools, Oregon State and Stanford, joined the hunt for the four-star DE, along with Alabama and TCU from outside the Conference of Champions.

“I can’t really say how it will be right now, as it is early, but I can say that Washington is of great interest of mine,” Trice told Rivals back in February after receiving his offer. “Not just because of football, but because of the academics and the amazing coaching staff there as of right now.

Trice added, “But yes, I can tell you right now they will definitely be one of my top choices. I definitely plan to visit multiple times.”

His first trip to UW April was among more than a half dozen unofficial visits the four-star recruit took during the spring. Trice also visited both in-state schools, Arizona and Arizona State, along with Cal and UCLA among others.

Outside linebackers coach Pete Kwiatkowski and offensive line coach Scott Huff, an area recruiter for the Huskies in the state of Arizona, were the two main assistant coaches Trice spent time with on his unofficial.

One of the more impactful interactions during the visit came when former UW safety Justin Glenn, now the Director of High School Relations in the recruiting department, led Trice and his mother on a campus tour.

Having a former student-athlete explain the day-to-day life gave Trice a deep understanding about the Huskies program, something no other school did.

“It helps a lot because I can hear from a former player how it was when coach Petersen was there,” Trice said. “It helps me understand how much he’s helped UW football. He said he loved it just like anyone would say about their time playing for the school they chose, and that’s great to hear coming from a great person such as Justin Glenn.”

The Huskies hosted Trice, the No. 7 ranked player from the state of Arizona according to Rivals’ rankings, last Saturday for his third and final official visit. Notre Dame and Oregon hosted Trice for his first two officials in September.