Skip to main content
Inside The Huskies

5 Husky WRs Who Ran to the Portal and What Comes Next

Tracing the steps of the University of Washington pass-catchers who moved on.
Dan Raley|
5 Husky WRs Who Ran to the Portal and What Comes Next
5 Husky WRs Who Ran to the Portal and What Comes Next

It was if five University of Washington wide receivers lined up all at once in some sort of overloaded run-and-shoot offense. Playing west to east at Husky Stadium, they confused everyone with this sudden formation. 

On the snap, three guys ran an out route hard right, flooding the zone in California and Nevada. Another slipped over the middle and did a sudden stop in Utah. The last one took off deep and didn't stop moving until he reached Ohio.

This was the University of Washington's pre-fab 5, a quintet that entered the transfer portal once last season ended, a group that waved goodbye.

 Four of them were once labeled 4-star recruits and, in the end, most of them weren't.

All are accounted for now, with none finding a Power 5 home, though BYU, as an independent, mostly plays opponents of that ilk. 

We revisit each of these former Husky pass-catchers and their coming roles with their new teams. 

Puka Nacua

Redshirt freshman Puka Nacua, who ended up with BYU's Cougars back in his hometown of Provo, Utah, is the only one with the combination of major talent and multiple years of eligibility remaining who got away.  

The addition of Nacua and his brother Samson, who transferred in from Utah in some sort of prearranged family shuffle, has made the Cougars' receiving corps as strong as it's ever been, according to the local beat writers.

While BYU returns a four-year starter in Gunner Romney and freshman standout Chase Roberts, Puka Nacua easily could take over the leading playmaker responsibilities. If nothing else, with 6,500 Instagram followers and another 5,500 on Twitter, he could cash in the most with the new name, image and likeness allowances.

Ty Jones 

Jones left the Pac-12 and a starting position for Fresno State and former Husky quarterback Jake Haener, hoping to do something he couldn't make happen in Seattle — become a No. 1 passing target. 

He joins a more wide-open offense that averaged 356 aerial yards per game, but he'll have to dislodge the four main receivers, including a pair of All-Mountain West honorable-mention selections, to achieve big-man-on-campus status. He's likely to be a support player once more.

Marquis Spiker

Spiker, a sure disappointment at the UW, joins Nevada's deepest position group, topped by Elijah Cooks and Romeo Doubs. These two Wolf Pack have taken turns ranking nationally in receiving over the past two seasons. Cooks caught 76 passes for 926 yards and 8 touchdowns in 2019, Doubs 58 for 1,002 yards and 9 scores last season in earning All-Mountain West honors.

Spiker hasn't received much attention other than he's a new arrival. He'll have to go to great lengths to prove himself and make bigger inroads with his rebound team than he did at the UW. He likes plays a support role. 

Jordan Chin

Chin was the first one out the revolving door among the impatient Husky receivers. Maybe he was part of a mythical trade for Kevin Thomson, the Sacramento State starting quarterback and Big Sky Offensive MVP in 2019 who transferred to the UW and never played. 

The Hornets need a No. 1 receiver and Chin, dropping down to the Big Sky and trying to go out with a splash as a senior, might be as capable as any candidate for this untested group in California's state capital city to step forward. 

Austin Osborne

Osborne wound up in Ohio and joined Bowling Green fairly nondescript receiving corps, giving the Falcons a rare 4-star recruit in the MAC. He has three years of college eligibility remaining. 

Unable to move up the ranks and play much at all at the UW, the Californian saw himself stuck on the bench unless he left. With this lower-level team located just outside of Toledo, he has a chance to be the highly productive receiver he envisioned when coming to Seattle, if not the No. 1 target.

Find Husky Maven on Facebook by searching: HuskyMaven/Sports Illustrated

Follow Dan Raley of Husky Maven on Twitter: @DanRaley1 and @HuskyMaven

Add us as a preferred source on Google

Loading recommendations... Please wait while we load personalized content recommendations

Published
Dan Raley
DAN RALEY

Dan Raley has worked for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, as well as for MSN.com and Boeing, the latter as a global aerospace writer. His sportswriting career spans four decades and he's covered University of Washington football and basketball during much of that time. In a working capacity, he's been to the Super Bowl, the NBA Finals, the MLB playoffs, the Masters, the U.S. Open, the PGA Championship and countless Final Fours and bowl games.

Home/Football