Huskies Will Run Into Huard One Last Time at USC

Over the past decade and maybe longer, Sam Huard remains one of the more confounding player developments for University of Washington football -- something that didn't happen and there was every reason to think it would.

He once was the 5-star quarterback recruit and a can't-miss kid. The son and nephew of accomplished Husky signal-callers who was expected to have his turn in Montlake. A lefty who was good for 13,214 yards and 153 touchdown passes at Kennedy Catholic High School. Someone who threw a nice deep ball.

This weekend in Los Angeles, Huard will be in uniform for the UW-USC football game, wearing the family trademark No. 7 jersey number, yet for the Trojans rather than his hometown team.

A sixth-year player, he's a third-unit QB who likely won't do anything but warm up for this Big Ten match-up.

As his career winds down, this second-generation Huard will walk away from the game hardly fulfilled, having played for four different college teams with mixed results. With his limited snaps, the NFL is not an option.

He seems to have come to grips with all of this.

“Wherever I go, wherever I end up, I want to leave the place better than I found it,” Huard said in a USC athletic department story. “I want to be remembered as someone who genuinely cares about the success of those around me.”

Safe to say, he and his football family and the entire UW fan base were counting on so much more.

Former UW quarterback Sam Huard shares a moment with the coach who first recruited him, Jimmy Lake. | USA TODAY Sports

So what happened?

Bust is too strong of a word here. Victim of circumstances is a better description of his career.

Huard went through an in-season coaching change during his first year at the UW. He entered the transfer portal after his second year. Flourished in the Big Sky. Hit the portal again. Got hurt. Ended up in L.A.

In hindsight, he either should have stayed put -- where another UW coaching change to Jedd Fisch was coming -- or taken his chances at the lower level, where game snaps at Cal Polly were guaranteed.

Lonyatta Alexander Jr., Xe'ree's brother, celebrates with Sam Huard (7) during 2022 UW spring football. | Skylar Lin Visuals

Certainly, he's a likable personality, maybe too much of a nice guy when it came down to his college career. After all, he independently held his own news conference to let local media members know he was leaving the UW.

Who does that?

For the Huskies a long time ago, he appeared in 5 games over two seasons, started once in the 2021 Apple Cup against Washington State as a freshman in a 40-13 loss and completed just 22 of 42 career passes for 241 yards and a lone 16-yard touchdown lob to Rome Odunze against the Cougars.

Those should have been game stats, not career numbers.

He turned to Cal Poly -- where former UW quarterback Dermaricus Davis now is a reserve -- and put up the following numbers: 184-of-303 passing for 2,247 yards and 18 touchdowns, with 10 interceptions.

From there, Huard spent a season at Utah, where he suffered a season-ending hand injury and had surgery, and didn't appear in any games.

A year ago, he turned to USC, where another uncle, Luke Huard, is the quarterbacks coach who once played for North Carolina.

For the Trojans, this Huard has thrown just once pass for 10 yards against Northwestern last season -- on a fake punt.

Optimistically, he says USC has been good for him.

I have grown so much as a quarterback by just going out and competing with Jayden [Maiava] and Jonas [Williams],” Huard said of his QB teammates. “We make each other better and push one another every day.”

As he looks over at the opposing sideline on Saturday, he'll see just two former teammates from his time spent with the Huskies in in 2022 in offensive guard Geirean Hatchett and kicker Grady Gross.

As Huard will tell you, time waits for no one in college football, which can be a challenging existence.

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