Cooley Makes Introductions, Ready To Show What He Can Do

At the beginning of each University of Washington spring football practice, Trey Cooley was like an official greeter, chatting up Huskies left and right as they arrived for the 150-minute workout that afternoon.

He was the new guy, a sixth-year running back who spent time at three different Southern universities before ending up in Montlake, yet he acted like he'd been in town for years.

Cooley had an easy smile, a friendly hand slap, the wherewithal to make an effort to get to know his new teammates as he recovered from a knee injury that forced him to miss the entire 2025 season for Troy, a Sun Belt Conference team.

Rather than wait for the UW players to come to him, he approached them on the East field and his actions were well received -- the Huskies recognized this as a veteran move.

Trey Cooley stretches with his new UW teammates. | Dan Raley

This is one in a series of articles -- going from 0 to 99 on the Husky roster -- examining what each scholarship player and leading walk-on did in spring practice and what to expect from them going into fall camp.

Considering where he's been, Cooley might best be described as a north-south runner.

He grew up in North Carolina, previously played his college football at Louisville in Kentucky, Georgia Tech in the heart of Atlanta and Troy in Alabama, and now finds himself three time zones away in the Northwest trying to get back on the field.

The 5-foot-10, 208-pound player actually hasn't played much at all over the past two seasons, missing all of 2025 and limited to just three games for Georgia Tech in 2024.

Cooley suffered a concussion while playing special teams for Tech against Florida State and he was left to deal with migraines, light sensitivity and depression issues.

Georgia Tech running back Trey Cooley (0) tries to leap over Mississippi defensive back Deantre Prince (7) in 2023. | Petre Thomas-Imagn Images

He's had plenty of experience in bouncing back. In 2020, he missed his senior year of football at Knightdale High School in Raleigh, North Carolina, because of the COVID pandemic and enrolled early at Louisville.

Now he's trying to put that concussion and a left knee injury well behind him as he looks to give the Huskies a veteran rusher along with Oregon transfer Jayden Limar to supplement a bunch of mostly ultra young ball carriers.

"I'm really looking forward to when Jayden and Trey get going," UW coach Jedd Fisch said.

If people still don't know who Cooley is in Montlake, he's doing his best to make introductions and will have Fall Camp to give everybody a full demonstration of who he is.

What he's done: In spite of the interruptions, he's played in 33 college football games. He's rushed 215 times for 1,009 yards and 6 touchdowns, and caught 33 passes for 355 yards and 4 scores at all of. his stops. He has one 100-yard rushing outing to his name, carrying 13 times for 112 yards and a score in Louisville's 28-14 victory over Boston College as a true freshman.

Starter or not: Cooley also has just one career college start, opening the 2021 First Responder Bowl as a Louisville freshman against Air Force in Dallas. In the 31-28 loss, he rushed 18 times for 92 yards and a touchdown. When he got injured at Troy right before the 2025 season opener, Cooley was a co-starter.

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