Inside The Huskies

As Kienholz Turns to Portal, Would DeBoer Pursue Him Again?

The South Dakota-produced quarterback was once committed to the former UW coach.
Dan Raley|
Lincoln Kienholz warms up prior to an Ohio State game this past season against Rutgers at Ohio Stadium.
Lincoln Kienholz warms up prior to an Ohio State game this past season against Rutgers at Ohio Stadium. | Adam Cairns/Columbus Dispatch / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Lincoln Kienholz, the South Dakota-produced quarterback who spurned the University of Washington football team for Ohio State three years ago, will enter the transfer portal after the Buckeyes didn't work out for him.

The 6-foot-3, 214-pound Kienholz played in just seven career games and threw all of 29 passes for the Big Ten Powerhouse.

Still, Kienholz, as a good-sized and athletic enough signal-caller, is expected to draw plenty of interest once the portal opens on Friday.

While another commitment to the UW is unlikely, with returning starter Demond Williams Jr. still holding two seasons of eligibility, Kienholz conceivably could entertain overtures from Alabama and Kalen DeBoer, the coach who tried to coax him to the Huskies.

DeBoer and his UW staff initially envisioned an under-recruited Kienholz and then redshirt freshman Sam Huard competing against each other for the starting job once Michael Penix Jr. moved to the NFL.

Yet that Montlake quarterback match-up never had a chance.

Kienholz, after committing to the UW in June 2022, became a late recruiting target for Ohio State and flipped his commitment just days before the December signing date.

Huard, for that matter, was a 5-star recruit who wasn't willing to wait for Penix to leave and transferred out after one season as an understudy to the fellow left-hander.

The latter quarterback just used up his college eligibility, with Huard playing at Cal Poly, Utah and USC, and not having anywhere near the success that was envisioned for him.

Kienholz grew up in the South Dakota capital city of Pierre and was a three-sport athlete, not unlike DeBoer, who was raised 220 miles away in Milbank, South Dakota. DeBoer later became a standout football player and the coach for Division II Sioux Falls in the state.

At one point, it appeared DeBoer was going to use his home state connections to bring unsung South Dakota talent to Montlake in edge rusher Zach Durfee, who transferred from Sioux Falls, and Kienholz.

While Durfee was a season-long starter this past season for the UW, which included opening against Ohio State in a a 24-6 loss at Husky Stadium, Kienholz simply stood and watched that day.

Kienholz, in fact, would have just one meaningful playing experience for the Buckeyes. At the 2023 Cotton Bowl, he entered as an injury replacement at quarterback late in the first quarter, yet was unable to generate any offense in a 14-3 loss to Missouri.

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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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