Caleb Presley Got Supportive Send-Off From His UW Position Coach

John Richardson posted a public message to his departed cornerback now in the transfer portal.

Caleb Presley works with a trainer during a 2023 UW fall practice while Anthony James (47) goes through his rehab. / Skylar Lin Visuals

The transfer portal often can be a cold and lonely place, where all surface communication stops between a player and his former football team once he jumps in. Like a marriage that didn't work, it's the great disconnect.

University of Washington coach Jedd Fisch, for instance, chooses to do little more than wish someone well who leaves his program rather than expound on the circumstances.

So within a few hours on Saturday of cornerback Caleb Presley exiting Montlake, it was mildly surprising to see Huskies secondary coach John Richardson sending out a very public message aimed at the sophomore from Seattle.

"Go be great 2! Always remember your why?" the coach posted on social media.

Asked about this gesture following Tuesday's practice, Richardson said, "One thing about it is when you spend that much time with a kid, you love him and want the best for him."

Go be great 2! Always remember your why! https://t.co/LR11ze4pCr

— John Richardson (@CoachJRich) April 19, 2025

What makes the Presley situation a delicate one were all of the great expectations heaped on him from the beginning, from the recruiting analysts' claims that he was the best player in the state, a certifiable 4-star recruit and the subject of an intense recruiting tug-of-war between the UW and Oregon.

Even previous Husky coach Kalen DeBoer spent much of his recruiting news conference back then talking about how Presley had made the right move as the local kid coming to Washington and that others surely would follow his lead.

What didn't figure in at the time is how Presley would match up with others once he pulled on a UW uniform and entered into competition, how his speed and quickness would compare, how his patience with the process would hold up.

He came in as the most heralded of three freshmen cornerbacks along with Curley Reed from Lake Charles, Louisiana, and Leroy Bryant from Fairfield, California.

As it turned out, Bryant, the least advertised of the three, was the first to get on the field. He appeared in seven games as a true freshman, including all of the postseason encounters two years ago, while the others redshirted.

Reed, probably never quite the same player after coming off a debilitating knee injury in high school, played in just one Husky game and transferred to the University of Louisiana this past winter.

Presley similarly appeared in just one Husky game over two seasons, but he was given plenty of opportunity to run with the first- and second-team defenses this spring and had multiple pass break-ups.

Yet nothing is guaranteed at this level when you gather 100-plus football players together and let them compare skills. The biggest separation point more often is speed.

Departed edge rushers Anthony James and Jayden Wayne can commiserate with Presley, their former teammate. They were 4-star recruits and supposedly can't-miss players who have come and gone through the UW, as well.

Originally committed to Texas A&M, the 6-foot-5, 272-pound James arrived from Lavon, Texas, was injured, never played in a Husky game and left last spring. He transferred to Eastern Washington, where again he received no game time, and is now at FCS Northwestern State in Louisiana.

The 6-foot-6, 262-pound Wayne, from Tacoma and a national recruit, played for Miami in 2023, came home to the Huskies last season and appeared in 11 games as a reserve, and transferred to California.

Now Presley is out there, looking for a better fit in a college football program, though it appears he wasn't lacking for a coach at the UW who had his best interests at heart.

"He made a decision that's best for him and all I can do as a man is support him in that," Richardson said of Presley. "Now he needs to go be great and that's what I believe he will do."

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT:

Ex-Husky Running back Sam Adams Will Finish Up at Sacramento State

Once Highly Regarded Corner Caleb Presley Enters Transfer Portal

Watkins Becomes Third Husky This Spring to Enter Portal