Huskies Pick Up Former Cal Receiver Jeremiah Hunter From the Portal
NEW ORLEANS — The previous time the University of Washington encountered Jeremiah Hunter on the football field, he caught a 7-yard touchdown pass in September at Husky Stadium, one of his 143 career receptions for the California Bears.
On Friday, Hunter revealed he's bringing all of that Bay Area production to Montlake on a full-time basis by committing to Kalen DeBoer's program.
It is hoped that Hunter will help alleviate the possible loss of veteran UW receivers Rome Odunze, Jalen McMillan and Ja'Lynn Polk to NFL ambitions, each who could leave with remaining college eligibility.
The 6-foot-2, 200-pound Hunter is a Fresno native with a season of eligibility left, a high school contemporary in that city of McMillan and Texas' Xavier Worthy, the latter who was a teammate for Hunter at Central High School.
"I'm not going to post about that until after the game," Worthy said on Friday alluding to facing the UW in the Sugar Bowl. "But I'm proud of him."
Hunter is one of seven portal transfers who have committed to the UW, four of whom are signed in Mississippi State quarterback Will Rogers, San Diego State offensive tackle Drew Azzopardi, Vanderbilt linebacker Ethan Barr and Montana State defensive tackle Sebastian Valdez.
Unsigned are Arizona State defensive tackle B.J. Green and Fresno State tight end Tre Watson, along with Hunter. All are still coming, as far as anyone can tell.
At Cal, Hunter started 23 of 33 games, including playing in the recent Independence Bowl against Texas Tech, a 34-14 loss for the 6-7 Bears.
Hunter entered the transfer portal on Dec. 21 shortly after his own Louisiana postseason football experience in Shreveport, which is 320 miles northwest of New Orleans.
He has career totals of those 143 catches for 2,056 yards and 13 touchdowns, with 63 receptions, 750 yards and 7 scores coming this past season.
Trailing 14-0 to DeBoer's team this season, Hunter got free for his touchdown catch against the Huskies, beating JC transfer cornerback Thaddeus Dixon on a fade route, but it couldn't prevent a 59-32 setback. Now he's one of them.
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