Inside The Huskies

Former Husky WR Raiden Vines-Bright Goes Home

The Arizona native reportedly has decided on a transfer portal destination.
Dan Raley|
Raiden Vines-Bright looks for running room against Washington State.
Raiden Vines-Bright looks for running room against Washington State. | Dave Sizer phot

Raiden Vines-Bright not only entered the transfer portal, he packed up his receiving gloves and went home.

On Sunday, the former University of Washington pass-catcher revealed he will next play for Arizona State, a connection that isn't hard to figure out, according to On3 and others.

Vines-Bright calls Tempe his home and now it will be his football workplace.

He originally left the Phoenix suburb to finish up his high school football at the iMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida, and then pivoted to Montlake and Jedd Fisch's UW program for his freshman season of college ball.

After a lone year with the Huskies, one in which he suffered a scary concussion in the Purdue game and had to be driven off the field in a Medic One emergency vehicle, he'll be joining the resurgent Sun Devils for his sophomore season.

Trading rain drops for sunshine probably was a motivating factor for changing schools. The wet stuff can wear on a guy who grew up in Arizona and played some of his football in Florida.

Vines-Bright is considered a significant pick-up for Kenny Dillingham's Big 12 program.

As a freshman, he was someone who was talented enough to start seven games for the Huskies and finish as the team's fifth-leading receiver with 24 catches for 238 yards and an LA Bowl touchdown in his final outing.

Dezmen Roebuck (81) and Raiden Vines-Bright (7) both started for the UW as freshmen wide receivers.
Dezmen Roebuck (81) and Raiden Vines-Bright (7) both started for the UW as freshmen wide receivers. | Dave Sizer photo

Injured early on after reporting to the UW, Vines-Bright emerged as one of the standouts of the Husky Spring Game by catching 8 passes for 131 yards and a score last May.

From an overly talented freshman receiving corps, he was the first one to become a starter by opening the second game on the schedule against UC Davis.

While the Huskies no doubt would have preferred to keep him, Vines-Bright choosing to leave is not a crippling move for them.

From that Class of 2025, Fisch's staff still has Dezmen Roebuck, who caught 42 passes for 560 yards and 7 touchdowns while starting 10 games, and Chris Lawson, who had 10 receptions for 115 yards while appearing in eight games.

From that group, Marcus Harris and Deji Ajose didn't see any game time as first-year players, but they're still well regarded players.

Junior Rashid Williams, who started the first two outings, also returns after missing the rest of the season with multiple injuries, as does senior Kevin Green Jr., still trying to bounce back from a 2024 knee injury.

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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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