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Inside The Huskies

UW Roster Review, No. 2-99: It's a Race to the Finish

The Husky punter keeps getting better with age, and he's really old.
Dan Raley|
UW Roster Review, No. 2-99: It's a Race to the Finish
UW Roster Review, No. 2-99: It's a Race to the Finish

Race Porter.

His name sounds like a dark beer, but he ages like that fine wine.

The University of Washington punter and holder came back for a sixth year using his pandemic provision, which leaves the Huskies still probably wondering how they will ever push forward without him someday.

If you missed this guy in spring practice, Porter was the one launching 50- to 60- yard punts as if that was his average.

His foot was a rocket.

His toes were the fuses.

Porter also recently abandoned his totally nondescript jersey No. 46 in favor of something a little more mainstream for college football, 11. Yet on the UW's latest roster this week, he went back to 46. Guess he wants to make that digit unforgettable.

And, all along, you thought he was just keeping the job warm for Triston Brown, the one-time No. 1 JC punter in the nation.

Brown is going to have to wait until Porter exhausts all of his Husky eligibility.

Besides, it seems as if everyone just likes having him around. Check out his good humor and playfulness in this video. 

Going down the roster in numerical order, this is another of our post-spring assessments of all of the Husky talent at hand, gleaned from a month of observations, as a way to keep everyone engaged during the offseason.

Watching Porter make the practice rounds one day, he jumped in the air and side-bumped with a female trainer along the sideline, stopped to chat up starting quarterback Dylan Morris as if he was the important one of the two, sat on an exercise bike for a short spell and then launched a few glorious spirals when called on.

That precious right leg of his is heavily tattooed from the ankle to the knee, as if to give him extra super powers.

Yet the 6-foot-3, 190-pound Porter simply has a history of sticking his nose in everywhere and making things happen.

At Seattle's O'Dea High School, he also played wide receiver on the football team, was part of a basketball team that played for the state championship, and competed in the state track meet in the high jump, long jump, 110-meter hurdles and on a 4x100-meter relay team with Myles Gaskin.

Race Porter?

The Huskies will take a six-pack to go.

Porter's 2021 Outlook: Projected as the starting punter

UW Service Time: Played in 41 games.

Stats: 32 punts for 42.4 average, 1 rush for 1 yard, 1 tackle

Individual Honors: None

Pro prospects: NFL free-agent signee 

Dan Raley of Husky Maven on Twitter: @DanRaley1 and @HuskyMaven

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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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