Federal Way High School seniors Justin Southern and Greylin James will get to keep playing football in the fall. The Eagle pair have signed letters of intent to play at Eastern Oregon University after stellar careers at Federal Way.

Southern and James are a part of a 37-member recruiting class for first-year coach Tim Camp.

“I would rate this as one of our better classes since I came to La Grande three years ago,” Camp said. “Our recruiting philosophy here at Eastern Oregon University is to focus on the best high school student/athletes we can attract from the region.”

Southern will play quarterback at Eastern Oregon, located in LaGrande, and James is set to compete for a wide receiver position.

Last year, Southern completed 59 percent of his passes for 1,919 yards in 10 games for Federal Way, who won their first South Puget Sound League title since 1976. Southern, 5-foot-10, 180 pounds, threw for 16 touchdowns, ran for five more and also caught a touchdown pass on a throwback from Eagles’ running back Andre Barrington. But the most impressive number in Southern’s stat line this season comes in the interception category. He only threw one pick in 160 pass attempts.

Southern will play at the East-West All-State Game on July 3 in Spokane and was the Mirror’s 2007 All-City Player of the Year.

James caught 24 passes from Southern as a senior for 378 yards and four touchdowns. As a junior, the 6-1, 180-pounder caught 14 passes for 154 yards and four touchdowns.

“The staff did a super job identifying quality players at every position, making it a well-rounded class by position,” Camp said.

The group of newcomers to the Mountaineer program will join a squad that expects to return a total of 15 players who saw action in at least one or more contests in 2007. Eastern Oregon finished 1-10 last season and play in the Frontier Conference.

Eastern’s roster also includes Federal Way grad Rodell Razor. Razor, a junior, started at defensive back for Eastern Oregon last season and finished with three interceptions, returning one for a touchdown.

Sports editor Casey Olson: 925-5565, sports@fedwaymirror.com