Inside The Huskies

Bryce Butler Turns Tech Savvy, Joins Big 12 Team

The Husky defensive tackle leaves after two seasons in Montlake.
Dan Raley|
Bryce Butler holds up the Huskies' first fumble recovery of the season from the Apple Cup.
Bryce Butler holds up the Huskies' first fumble recovery of the season from the Apple Cup. | Dave Sizer photo

Defensive tackle Bryce Butler, apparently looking for a much bigger role, revealed on Monday he will transfer from the University of Washington to Texas Tech.

While the Canadian native appeared in a dozen games and was a steady contributor for the Huskies this past season, he largely was relegated to reserve duty.

The 6-foot-5, 315-pound Butler was one of three players who opened games at the defensive tackle spot opposite the now departed Ta'ita'i Uiagalelei, who was a 13-game starter.

Returning tackle Elinneus Davis started nine times on the other side while the graduated Anterio Thompson and Butler each drew just a pair of game-opening assignments. Thompson announced over the weekend that he was making himself available for the NFL Draft.

Had he returned to Montlake, Butler likely would have been paired with Davis as the starters up front entering spring football practice.

With Logan Sagapolu, Simote Pepa and Thompson out of eligibility, and Butler moving on, the Huskies find themselves exceedingly thin in manpower at defensive tackle and will need some transfer portal help.

After playing for Garden City Community College in Kansas for two seasons, Butler signed with Jedd Fisch's coaching staff at Arizona and then followed those guys to Washington for the past two seasons.

In 2024, he appeared in three Husky games and redshirted, appearing in just one of the final 10 outings.

Butler was a fairly solid performer this past fall by coming up with 19 tackles, which included 2.5 tackles for loss and 2 sacks, and he had a fumble recovery at Washington State, where he made one of his two starts.

With Butler moving on, the 6-foot-3, 317-pound Davis will reclaim one of the DT starting jobs while the other one could go to one of the Parker twins should they regain their health.

The 6-foot-3, 330-pound Jayvon Parker, who's a senior, played only briefly against Michigan over the UW's past 21 games while dealing with knee and Achilles injuries.

His sibling Armon, a 6-foot-3, 320-pound junior, finally made his UW debut and appeared in eight games, but he was sidelined again when the season ended.

Redshirt freshman Omar Khan and freshmen Dominic Macon Caleb Smith also are DL possibilities, but neither has appeared in a Husky game.

With Butler departing, the Huskies have had three players find new teams in the transfer portal. Wide receiver Raiden Vines-Bright is joining Arizona State while linebacker Deven Bryant is committed to USC.

If this were a baseball trade, Butler would be the player to be named later following the 2021 transfer of wide receiver Ja'Lynn Polk, who came to Montlake from Texas Tech and is now in the NFL.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT:

Published | Modified
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