Inside The Huskies

After Inactive Spring, Husky LB Demario King Enters Transfer Portal

The California native was injured much of last year.
Dan Raley|
After Inactive Spring, Husky LB Demario King Enters Transfer Portal
After Inactive Spring, Husky LB Demario King Enters Transfer Portal

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Washington Huskies

The week following the conclusion of University of Washington spring football always brings a roster shuffle. Coaches and players meet in what amounts to an exit interview. Frank assessments are offered concerning playing time.

While it's not Colorado with its Amazon-like layoffs, the Huskies each year part ways with a handful of players as May approaches.

A year ago, running backs Caleb Berry and Emeka Megwa, edge rusher Jordan Lolohea and defensive tackle Draco Bynum went out the door, either encouraged to do so or departing on their own with little hope of playing

On Wednesday, it was junior linebacker Demario King, who leaves not long after junior edge rusher Sav'ell Smalls said goodbye to the Huskies.

One of Kalen DeBoer's earliest signees, the 6-foot-3, 214-pound King revealed on social media that he has entered the transfer portal. He exits Montlake after never playing in a UW game, missing most of last season because of an unspecified injury and returning this spring only to get lost on the depth chart.

 

From Los Alamitos in Southern California, King transferred in from nearby Cerritos College after playing two JC seasons as a safety in and around the COVID pandemic in 2019 and 2021. 

The Huskies tried to turn him into an inside linebacker to utilize his speed.

A year ago in spring ball, King seemed to pull meaningful reps at this new position of his, but then the injury got in the way. Yet once he went through April workouts a second time, he found himself way behind everyone else, including freshmen, didn't draw many scrimmage snaps and now he's moving on.

After arriving last year, King had pointed out how as.a youngster he traveled from SoCal to take part in Husky football camp after watching the team on TV and becoming a Dante Pettis fan.

"Ever since I was in eighth grade," he told reporters in 2022, "Washington has been my dream school."

While at Cerritos, King had developed a relationship with Kalen DeBoer's Fresno State staff and received a scholarship offer from that school, before following those coaches to the UW.

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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.

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