Inside The Huskies

Former UW Receiver Marcus Harris Finds New School

The California native needed just 24 hours to enter the portal and reveal his destination.
Dan Raley|
Marcus Harris awaits the snap during spring football.
Marcus Harris awaits the snap during spring football. | Skylar Lin Visuals

Marcus Harris didn't waste any time in finding a new school, with the wide receiver going home to Los Angeles and committing to UCLA on Saturday within 24 hours of leaving the University of Washington for the transfer portal.

If not for a string of preseason injuries, the 6-foot-1, 190-pound Harris might have played a lot as UW freshman, rather than make just an end-of-the-season appearance against Boise State in the LA Bowl.

He was one of five freshman pass-catchers for the Huskies last season and seemingly the first to make a real impact in spring football for a group that overall came ready to play.

Yet Harris was injured in fall camp and never was able to catch up to fellow first-year receivers Dezmen Roebuck and Raiden Vines-Bright, who became immediate starters, or to Chris Lawson, who appeared in eight games.

Marcus Harris draws a bead on the football during spring practice.
Marcus Harris draws a bead on the football during spring practice. | Skylar Lin Visuals

"Marcus has been fantastic," UW receivers coach Kevin Cummings said before the season began. "He's learning the playbook and he's winning and losing."

Rather than go through a second season in Montlake, which will offer plenty of opportunity for receivers to advance with five players recently leaving the position group, Harris instead will play for a Bruins team with a new coach in Bob Cheseny and quarterbacked once more by Nico Iamaleava.

Harris, who played for Mater Dei High School in Santa Ana, didn't have UCLA among his leading pursuers when he went through his first recruitment, nor were the Huskies when he listed his top choices.

He entertained Georgia, Oklahoma, Oregon, Tennessee and Texas before choosing the Sooners in June 2024. 

The Huskies came into the picture only because they had a commitment from Mater Dei quarterback Dash Beierly, kept watching Harris have big outings and put on a late full-court press.

Harris backed out of his Oklahoma commitment with two weeks to go before the 2024 sign date and committed to Jedd Fisch's just hours before recruiting paperwork began changing hands for everyone.

The Huskies still held him in high regard, even though he wasn't used at all before the bowl game played in Inglewood in the L.A. area for that matter.

Yet as is the nature of college football today, nobody waits for opportunity any longer or to be developed or to compete for a job. They just keep moving in and out of the portal until something feels right.

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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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