Calvert Says His Goodbye to Huskies on Social Media, Enters Portal

The sophomore linebacker said it was in his best interests to transfer.

Josh Calvert addressed his departure from the University of Washington football team on social media on Monday, but he didn't give a clear reason for leaving.

As is typical these days, the sophomore inside linebacker acknowledged his coaches, trainers and teammates as he checked out.

"Thank you to all my brothers who I have made those memories and relationships with over the past couple years," Calvert wrote. "With that being said after a lot of thought and consideration it is best for me to enter the transfer portal and continue my journey elsewhere."

At the same time, Calvert probably never once thought he couldn't play for the Huskies. He seemingly just got impatient.

Calvert will be remembered as a poor man's James Clifford, a big hitter all the way down to the debilitating knee injury.

For those not familiar with the guy known as Cliff, the 6-foot-2, 240-pound inside linebacker from Seattle led the Pac-10 in tackles as a sophomore in 1989 and then tore up his knee in fall camp while preparing for the following season.

Clifford returned for the 1991 national championship run, but was relegated to the second unit as he still worked his way through his injury.

The 6-foot-2, 240-pound Calvert enrolled early in 2019 at the UW, took part in spring football and appeared ready to at least be a special-teamer when he tore up his knee and had surgery.

Calvert didn't play in either 2019 or 2020 as he recovered from his injury. 

Last week, he informed the coaching staff he was leaving after spring football ended. He spent most of that time on the third team. 

Calvert either didn't want to wait for a bunch of guys to graduate before he could move up or his competitive and rough-and-tumble household got to him.

He's the younger brother of Bo Calvert, a UCLA starting linebacker, and older brother of Ethan Calvert, another linebacker and one of Utah's top recruits coming in. 

They may have goaded him to make a move, maybe to join one of them.

Follow Dan Raley of Husky Maven on Twitter: @DanRaley1 and @HuskyMaven

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