Unable to Sit Any Longer at UW, Morris Enters Portal As Grad Transfer
After five seasons with the University of Washington football team — two as the starter — quarterback Dylan Morris on Monday has entered the transfer portal hoping to play his final college season elsewhere as a graduate transfer.
The junior started 15 games over the 2020 and 2021 seasons for the Huskies before he was replaced by Michael Penix Jr. the past two years.
His pending departure leaves Washington with three scholarship quarterbacks for 2024 in Austin Mack, Will Haskell and unsigned recruit Dermarcius Davis — and offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb said Morris will stay with the team for the College Football Playoff game on Jan. 1 against Texas in the Sugar Bowl in an interview with KJR's Dave Mahler.
Kalen DeBoer's coaching staff actively has been pursuing a transfer quarterback for 2024, which likely prompted Morris' decision to enter the portal and will open up a scholarship for another signal-caller.
Mississippi State's Will Rogers and Washington State's Cam Ward reportedly have offers from the Huskies and On3's Pete Nakos reported Rogers will take a visit to Washington over the weekend.
An All-Pac-12 honorable-mention selection in 2020, Morris has career stats of 305 completions in 503 attempts for 3,721 passing yards and 20 touchdowns, with 17 interceptions.
Morris was the object of a lot of criticism during the 2021 season when the Huskies went 4-8 under coach Jimmy Lake and the quarterback led the Pac-12 in interceptions with 12. Yet he stuck with the program when Kalen DeBoer took over and has served as a back-up for Penix.
“I don’t know if there are many guys that I admire more than Dylan Morris because I think that there are grown men that would be able to take about one percent of the criticism that Dylan’s taken and operate at the level that Dylan operates at,” offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb said in the spring.
However, Morris has played in just 11 spot appearances over these past two seasons, throwing 30 passes, and he no doubt wants to play again, similar to former Husky quarterback Sam Huard, who transferred to Cal Poly for this past season.
A product of Graham-Kapowsin High School, the quarterback is so well thought of he could return to the UW as a future graduate assistant.
A year ago, while awaiting the Alamo Bowl against Texas, Morris said he wasn't prepared to leave the program at that time, even after Penix surprised everyone by announcing his return for another season.
"I've got a couple more years," Morris said at the time. "Honestly, the last thing I want to do is leave this place. I love this place. I've wanted to play here my whole life. Having that opportunity has been nothing but a dream. Obviously, I want to stick it out here and end my career here."
Yet that won't happen.
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