Washington Huskies: Suddenly its a lonely QB room
Several Washington Huskies are taking advantage of the transfer portal. As a result, the team’s quarterback group is down to one scholarship player.
The NCAA transfer portal is doing its job. Due to recent rule changes, college football players who think they have a better opportunity at another school can pick up and leave. Sometimes there are unintended consequences. A good example of the side effects of free transfers is the Washington Huskies quarterback situation.
A battle delayed
It was supposed to be an intense competition last spring to see who would succeed Jacob Eason as the Washington Huskies quarterback. Eason left after his junior season to enter the NFL Draft. UW not only had a new head coach, Jimmy Lake, and new offensive coordinator John Donovan, but they also had to break in a new quarterback.
Due to COVID-19, there was no spring practice. The four-way battle for the QB job between freshman Ethan Garbers, graduate transfer Kevin Thomson, redshirt freshman Dylan Morris, and sophomore Jacob Sirmon moved to summer camp.
That competition never happened. Again because the pandemic shut down public gatherings such as football practice. The Pac-12 canceled the 2020 season, and then they didn’t. Washington had only a few weeks to find their new signal-caller before their early November opener.
Lake kept quiet about who was going to be the starter. It wasn’t until minutes before the first game that Huskies Nation found out that Morris was U-Dub’s quarter. Washington played four games this season. Morris won the job and held it, he threw all but one of the team’s 111 passes.
Exodus
Next summer, the Washington Huskies welcome Sam Huard to the team. Besides being a UW legacy, he’s also a five-star prospect and top-rated quarterback of the 2021 recruiting class.
When the 2020 season ended, the other three quarterbacks saw what was coming. Sirmon was the first to go. Two weeks ago, he announced his intentions to attend Central Michigan. Next to leave was Thomson.
The 25-year-old decided that seven years in college was enough. He will attempt to make it in the pro ranks. Finally, Garbers made his move to UCLA earlier this week.
Washington’s quarterback defections present a huge problem for spring practice. Huard will likely be playing high school football, so Morris is the squad’s only scholarship quarterback. The other QBs on the roster are walk-ons with far less talent than the players who left UW.
What do the Washington Huskies do if Morris gets injured and for some reason, Huard is delayed?
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College football finds itself in a new era. Relaxed transfer provisions have made for de facto player free agency. Just like in professional sports, players will go where they feel the most wanted. In this case, the Washington Huskies are the big losers.