Inside The Huskies

Caleb Smith Takes Edge-Rushing Talents and Goes Home

The edge rusher will transfer from Washington to Alabama.
Dan Raley|
Caleb Smith makes a move during a UW spring drill.
Caleb Smith makes a move during a UW spring drill. | Skylar Lin Visuals

When edge rusher Caleb Smith left Birmingham, Alabama, for the University of Washington a year ago, Matt Doherty, senior director of player personnel, explained how the South was known for its elite pass rushers and the Huskies wanted in on the gold mine.

Hence, the UW made a determined push to bring the 6-foot-5, 270-pound Smith all the way to Montlake, 2,530 miles in fact.

Well, on Tuesday, the South claimed him back.

Smith announced on social media he had committed to Alabama and Kalen DeBoer's coaching staff -- and he was going home.

Of 18 Huskies currently in the transfer portal, he is the 10th one to find a new school with this process coming to a close on Friday.

Smith originally was committed to Georgia Tech and flipped to the Huskies, this after taking other visits to Memphis, Oklahoma State and Purdue.

But not Alabama.

Smith seemed overjoyed by Crimson Tide finally showing a lot of interest in him.

"It was not a hard decision to make," he said.

What's interesting is while Alabama didn't recruit Smith when he a 3-star recruit at Birmingham's Parker High School, the kid never played a snap for the UW this past season as a freshman to show off his newfound development.

So it's not real clear when and what the Crimson Tide finally saw in him to reverse course in pursuing him.

Maybe DeBoer's recruiters simply read Doherty's over complimentary description of Smith and realized they missed one last year.

"He's just scratching the surface in terms of what he's capable of doing," Doherty said in December 2024. "I would say of anybody, who I might predict, [and] I don't want to put undue pressure on the kid, his ceiling is extremely high."

And there was even more than that as the Huskies weren't shy at all in talking about the great plan they had for and the possibilities they foresaw for this homegrown Alabama edge.

"What he did at the high school level was impressive, but it's not anything remotely close to what I think he can become from a physical standpoint," Doherty said.

Again, Alabama will be the one to benefit from Smith if and when he's a polished player and all ready to go on the college football level.

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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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