Inside The Huskies

Audric Harris Becomes First UW Player To Enter New Portal

The wide receiver leaves after starting against UCLA and catching a 61-yard TD pass against Purdue.
Dan Raley|
Audric Harris touches down in the end zone on his 61-yard TD catch against Purdue.
Audric Harris touches down in the end zone on his 61-yard TD catch against Purdue. | Dave Sizer photo

To play or not to play.

To stay or not to stay.

Audric Harris obviously had a lot to figure out regarding his football career lately and, on Tuesday -- two weeks after burning a redshirt season to bolster a depleted University of Washington receiving corps -- he chose to enter the transfer portal.

The 6-foot, 190-pound sophomore pass-catcher from Las Vegas becomes the first Husky to move on with the portal in play once again.

After appearing in eight games in 2024 and forgoing a freshman redshirt year, Harris found himself playing behind freshmen Raiden Vines-Bright and Dezmen Roebuck, who became instant starters this season.

That had to be difficult for him, with a third freshman receiver Chris Lawson, playing ahead of him at times, as well, besides veterans in Denzel Boston, Rashid Williams and Penn State transfer Omari Evans.

So Harris attempted to redshirt by sitting out six games throughout the middle of the season, but the Huskies lost starters in Boston and Vines-Bright, and he was pressed into service against Purdue. That put him at the four-game limit for redshirting.

He caught 2 passes for 90 yards, including a 61-yard touchdown heave, in the UW's 49-13 victory over the Boilermakers.

With the Huskies low on bodies heading into the UCLA game, Harris agreed to forgo his redshirt and made his first, and only, UW start in a 48-14 win at the Rose Bowl.

"Hats off to Audric," Fisch said in the postgame media session. "He wanted to put the team first."

Yet Harris played limited snaps once more this past weekend against Oregon, with Boston coming back from an ankle sprain to catch a pair of touchdown passes, and Vines-Bright returning from concussion protocol to assume his regular role in the rotation.

Harris, who was recruited by Fisch's staff at both Arizona and the UW, came to Montlake from Las Vegas' Bishop Gorman High School, which earlier sent Rome Odunze to the Huskies.

Harris and Odunze know each other well.

"We always worked out together when he came back to Vegas," he said. "That's kind of like my big brother." 

Harris now leaves the UW after catching 7 passes for 116 yards and that lone Purdue score, in search of new connections and probably hoping he doesn't run into another class of talented freshmen receivers such as this one.

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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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