Inside The Huskies

Johntay Cook and Huskies Part Ways After Just 17 Days

The wide receiver committed to the UW shortly before the Sun Bowl.
Dan Raley|
Johntay Cook was a 16-day Husky receiver.
Johntay Cook was a 16-day Husky receiver. | UW

Johntay Cook, the one-time Texas Longhorns wide receiver and a former 5-star recruit, apparently lasted all of 17 days as a University of Washington football player, according to multiple football websites.

On Tuesday, Dawgman.com's Scott Ecklund was among the first to report that the touted player was dismissed from Jedd Fisch's Husky program.

All along, the 6-foot, 186-pound Cook seemed like a gamble to stick with the Huskies after parting ways with Texas during the middle of this past season, his second in Austin, especially with Steve Sarkisian, the former UW coach now heading up the Longhorns, known to give his players plenty of leeway.

Cook was pursued by Fisch's UW staff because the Huskies were in great need of veteran receiver help after starters Giles Jackson and Jeremiah Hunter played for the last time in the Sun Bowl and used up their eligibility.

Since then, redshirt freshman Keith Reynolds and freshman Jason Robinson Jr. left the Huskies, entered the transfer portal and signed with Miami of Ohio and North Carolina, respectively.

The Huskies no doubt will add another veteran pass-catcher or two before next season. Currently, they have returning starter and second-leading receiver Denzel Boston, who caught 63 passes for 834 yards and 9 touchdowns as a sophomore; Rashid Williams, coming off an 11-catch, 138-yard, 1-TD showing as a redshirt freshman; and Audric Harris, returning from a 2-catch, 17-yard freshman season.

Fisch also has five freshmen receivers joining his program in Deji Ajose of Hercules, California; Marcus Harris of Eastvale, California; Chris Lawson from San Francisco; Dezmen Roebuck of Marana, Arizona; and Raiden Vines-Bright from Tempe, Arizona.

As for Cook, who is said to possess 4.3-second 40-yard dash speed, he'll likely have to go to great lengths to convince a third FBS program to take a chance on him following his misfires with Texas and Washington.

For the latest UW football and basketball news, go to si.com/college/washington

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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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