Inside The Huskies

Kade Eldridge Leaves USC to Come Home and Play for Huskies

Originally from Lynden, the redshirt freshman will give the UW another seasoned tight end.
Dan Raley|
Kade Eldridge is shown on game day for USC this past season.
Kade Eldridge is shown on game day for USC this past season. | Eldridge

From the Canadian border crossing town of little Lynden, Washington, Kade Eldridge, showed very little interest in the University of Washington football team as a 3-star tight end following the coaching change from Jimmy Lake to Kalen DeBoer.

Instead, he headed for USC and the bright lights of Hollywood to launch his college football career.

Yet in early November, the 6-foot-4, 250-pound Eldridge must have seen something that he liked at Husky Stadium when he and the Trojans visited and left Montlake with a 26-21 loss.

On Friday, the home state guy announced he was returning to the Northwest by committing to Jedd Fisch's Huskies, becoming the seventh player to join the UW through this transfer portal window.

When he left USC, Eldridge released the following statement: “While this decision comes with mixed emotions, I am excited for the new chapter ahead, where I can continue to develop both on and off the field. I’m looking forward to the next steps in my journey and to the opportunities that awaits. Thank you again to everyone who has supported me along the way - It means more than words can express.”

That next step would be the UW, which sits just over 100 miles from his Whatcom County hometown that serves as a border entry into the U.S.

He will join the UW football program with three seasons of eligibility remaining and compete for playing time with current freshman Decker DeGraaf, three times a first-team Freshman All-America selection; senior Quentin Moore, the starter before suffering a season-ending knee injury in the opener; freshman Charlie Crowell, who likewise went out with a season-ending knee injury; sophomore Ryan Otton, who missed this past season with an unspecified injury; and incoming freshmen Baron Naone and Austin Simons, both from Oregon.

If Fisch can get everyone healthy, tight end becomes a serious position of strength for him and the Huskies.

With this season's 6-6 Trojans, Eldridge was a redshirt freshman who appeared in all 12 games and caught 3 passes for 19 yards, coming up with single receptions against LSU, Utah State and Wisconsin.

Blocking admittedly was a big adjustment for him on the college level, with Eldridge telling media members at midseason, "I definitely have a lot of room to improve. I believe I've improved a ton to now."

He presents an interesting athlete at the tight-end position, considered so athletic that Lynden Christian High School used to line him in the backfield and hand him the football.

As a senior, he rushed 72 times for 545 yards and 7 touchdowns -- getting loose for 146 yards in one outing. He also returned kickoffs and was an edge rusher on defense, picking up 18 tackles.

Eldridge comes from the same high school that previously sent Cole Bajema to the UW for basketball in a round about manner.

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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