Inside The Huskies

Taj Davis, Big Husky Contributor, Surprisingly Enters Transfer Portal

The veteran wide receiver had the catch of the 2022 season to beat Oregon.
Dan Raley|
Taj Davis, Big Husky Contributor, Surprisingly Enters Transfer Portal
Taj Davis, Big Husky Contributor, Surprisingly Enters Transfer Portal

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Washington Huskies

Taj Davis, likely seeking a greater wide-receiver role and unwilling to wait for it in Montlake, has entered the transfer portal, he revealed somewhat surprisingly on Friday.

The University of Washington wide receiver forever will be remembered as the guy who helped beat Oregon — by catching an electrifying 62-yard touchdown pass with 3:07 remaining to tie the game at 34 before the Huskies emerged with a 37-34 victory.

Many considered it the play of the year during the UW's 11-2 resurgent season under new coach Kalen DeBoer, who installed a wide-open offense.

The 6-foot-2, 200-pound Davis becomes the third UW player to leave the program since the end of spring football practice, joining edge rusher Sav'ell Smalls and linebacker Demario King.

A solid player, the California native appeared in 24 games over two seasons and started 10 times.

He finished his UW football career with 47 receptions for 606 yards and 4 touchdowns.

Curiously, while every Husky receiver saw his pass-catching numbers increase following the coaching change from Jimmy Lake to DeBoer, Davis had most of his stats fall off some.

He went from 26 and 329 yards with a score in 2021 to 21 grabs for 277 yards and 3 TDs last season.

Yet Davis had big catches when they were needed most, finishing up with a 6-yard TD reception in the second half against Texas in the Alamo Bowl.

He came to the UW from Upland High School in Southern California with running back Cam Davis, no relation, who stands to be the Huskies' starting running back this season.

Taj Davis redshirted in 2019 and opted out of Lake's program in 2020, during the pandemic, because he was dealing with myocarditis, an inflammation of the heart. Yet he was able to put in two solid seasons following that health scare.

Davis' actions are mildly surprising because he had been a solid contributor for the Huskies and stood a chance to be even more involved, if not the No. 1 guy, in 2024. He has two seasons of eligibility remaining.

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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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