Inside The Huskies

Huard Still Job-Hunting as Name Circulates Through Florida Schools

Transfer portal quarterback options are sort of limited.
Dan Raley|
Huard Still Job-Hunting as Name Circulates Through Florida Schools
Huard Still Job-Hunting as Name Circulates Through Florida Schools

In this story:

Washington Huskies

Explaining his decision to leave the University of Washington football team and enter the transfer portal, quarterback Sam Huard offered up an alternative that sort of caught everyone off guard.

Maybe he wouldn't leave the Huskies after all once he surveyed the portal landscape. It was something he addressed with coach Kalen DeBoer and offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb as he made his move into the unknown.

"Of course, I mentioned the possibility of like, 'OK if I don't find a spot, do I have the possibility to come back?' " Huard shared with media members 11 days ago. "That's just for further conversation down the road."

For now, Huard remains footloose and the subject of equally interesting conjecture, with his name being floated as possibly a solution for Florida and Miami, both in need of quarterback depth, especially the Gators, who gave freshman quarterback Jaden Rashada his letter of intent release — with Rashada possibly considering the UW.

Huard's dilemma is finding a quarterback situation better than the one he just left. According to a source, national runner-up TCU called to inquire about his availability, notably after Max Duggan declared for the NFL draft. The Horned Frogs, however, return Chandler Morris, who beat out Duggan but was lost with a season-ending injury, plus three others on scholarship.

Even with a limited UW football resume of five games and one start over two seasons, Huard is considered as one of a handful of top quarterbacks still in the portal. 

Florida is scrambling to find someone to lead its offense after Jack Miller struggled mightily at quarterback in a 30-3 loss to Oregon State in the Las Vegas Bowl, with ineffective Wisconsin transfer Graham Mertz behind him and Max Brown, once recruited by the UW, in the mix.

Down the coast in Miami, coach Mario Cristobal has had quarterback Jake Garcia enter the portal, starter Tyler Van Dyke have trouble staying injury-free, Jacurri Brown as the backup and Emory Williams as an incoming freshman.  

The Hurricanes also are without a quarterbacks coach, with Frank Ponce leaving to become Appalachian State's offensive coordinator.

Should these Florida schools come calling same as TCU, Huard will have to investigate these situations and see if he has a realistic chance to play, which is all he wants.

Last week, some of the analysts singled out LSU's Walker Howard and Huard as the top two quarterbacks still in the portal before Howard settled on Ole Miss. Huard's phone likely is ringing a little more now. 

No one said this transfer portal stuff would be easy.

Go to si.com/college/washington to read the latest Inside the Huskies stories — as soon as they’re published.

Not all stories are posted on the fan sites.

Find Inside the Huskies on Facebook by searching: Inside Huskies/FanNation at SI.com or https://www.facebook.com/dan.raley.12

Follow Dan Raley of Inside the Huskies on Twitter: @DanRaley1 or @UWFanNation or @DanRaley3

Have a question, direct message me on Facebook or Twitter.

Published
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.

Home/Football