Talented Florida RB putting in work

Orlando (Fla.) Boone running back James Washington has plenty to build on from his junior year. His high school team lost in the Florida 6A finals to the highly touted Miami Northwestern team that was widely regarded as the nation's best team. On that state final run, Washington piled up 1,760 yards and 16 touchdowns. Now he is planning his encore with some very specific goals and action plans to reach them.

"I've been working out trying to put on a little more weight for the upcoming season," said the 5-foot-10, 170-pounder. "I've been doing more running and stuff trying to get down to a good 4.35, trying to get ready."

Washington is looking to gain 15 pounds to make himself more durable with a 185 pound goal.

"I'm working out twice a day, five days a week and I eat about four or five meals a day," he said. "I will be bigger. It will be harder to take me down. It will be more run over than run around. I feel like I need to have a combination of both some speed and a lot of power, take a hit and keep on trucking."

On the recruiting front, Washington is still waiting on his first offer but he does have several schools showing him interest.

"I've got a list of schools that's trying to recruit me but so far I haven't got any offers yet," he said. "I hope Auburn, Georgia, Florida and Nebraska offer. Auburn and Florida have the major that I want. I want to major in engineering and architecture. Nebraska and Georgia are the two teams that when I was little I really wanted to play for."

Washington will be attending the Nike Training Camp in Gainesville in April and hopes to put on a show.

"I'm looking forward to going against some of the best players there and show that I'm one of the top players around."

Washington also plans to attends Junior Days at Auburn and Nebraska in the coming weeks.