Inside The Huskies

Here's One Solution to Solving the UW Quarterback Crisis

Jedd Fisch has taken 18 players away from Arizona since changing jobs and one more might be a possibility.
Dan Raley|
Noah Fifita might be an option to replace Demond Williams as the UW quarterback.
Noah Fifita might be an option to replace Demond Williams as the UW quarterback. | Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

The original plan was to have Demond Williams Jr. play quarterback for Arizona and back up and eventually replace Noah Fifita as the starter.

In what would be a most curious turn of events, Fifita might become a candidate to replace Williams at the University of Washington, reuniting him with coach Jedd Fisch, according to various college football analysts out there.

Fifita, a first-team All-Big 12 selection who has one year of eligibility remaining, declared after a 24-19 loss to SMU in the Holiday Bowl he would be returning to the Wildcats for a fifth season.

However, those sort of proclamations no longer carry much weight with all of the instantaneous player movement and big money being thrown around the college game right now, with Williams' abrupt departure a strong case in point.

Noah Fifita (11) throws a pass against a Washington pass rush of Bralen Trice (8) and Faatui Tuitele (99) in 2023.
Noah Fifita (11) throws a pass against a Washington pass rush of Bralen Trice (8) and Faatui Tuitele (99) in 2023. | Zachary BonDurant-Imagn Images

And Fisch hasn't been shy about adding talent from his previous coaching stop either -- with 18 former Arizona players coming to the UW since the coach changed schools.

Fifita played his football in Anaheim, California, at Servite High School, where linebacker Jacob Manu, a former Arizona player now at the UW, was his teammate.

Fifita brings a lot of similar traits to the quarterback position in comparison to Williams, though he's not nearly as fast. He might be a better overall passer though.

This past season, he completed 275 of 429 passes for 3,228 yards and 29 touchdowns, with just 6 interceptions. He rushed 115 times for 222 yards and 3 scores.

Both Fifita and Williams quarterbacked their teams to 9-4 records this past fall.

On Tuesday night, Williams revealed on social media that he was entering the transfer portal with a no-contact tag, which would seem to indicate he has struck a deal with someone, possibly LSU. Unsubstantiated reports have said he's in line to receive $4 million from his next team, whoever that might be.

The UW has responded by threatening legal action, according to various news accounts, after signing Williams to a financial agreement last week, with unconfirmed reports putting that price tag at $3 million.

The school supposedly will resist entering Williams' name in the transfer portal to prevent him from changing schools through procedural channels.

The transfer portal is open until January 16 and spring football is fewer than three months away, so the Huskies will have to come up with a contingency plan and make a move on someone to quarterback their football team fairly soon.

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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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