Inside The Huskies

Lance Holtzclaw Latest UW Player Headed for Transfer Portal

The edge rusher from Mesa, Arizona, spent three seasons with the Huskies.
Dan Raley|
Lance Holtzclaw played on the edge and as a punt blocker against Oregon.
Lance Holtzclaw played on the edge and as a punt blocker against Oregon. | Skylar Lin Visuals

Lance Holtzclaw showed up in Montlake three years ago with the best nickname of any University of Washington football player, calling himself "Showtime."

Yet on Thursday, the 6-foot-3, 224-pound sophomore edge rusher from Mesa, Arizona, did a final curtain call, announcing plans to enter the transfer portal. He becomes the fourth Husky to go this route, joining fellow edge rusher Maurice Heims and a pair of non-scholarship punters in Jack McCallister and Adam Saul.

Holtzclaw appeared in 26 career games as a reserve for the UW, including all 12 so far this season, and accumulated 13 tackles, 2 sacks and a fumble recovery. It's unclear whether he will participate in the Husky bowl game, but he has that option.

He no doubt is in search of a more prominent role. A microcosm of his time with the Huskies was this season's USC game in which he came in for just one play at the end of the game and forced Trojans quarterback Miller Moss, now also in the portal, to throw an incomplete pass on fourth-and-4 at the UW 14 to preserve a 26-21 victory.

Originally from Boston, Holtzlaw finished up his high school football at Desert Ridge High School in Mesa, Arizona, which is where Jimmy Lake's coaching staff found him and gained a commitment. He was one of five recruits who stayed with the Huskies after Lake was dismissed and Kalen DeBoer's staff took over as coach.

The issue for Holtzclaw has been his inability to put on significant weight to be more of a pass-rush factor, such as fellow Arizonan Bralen Trice was the previous two seasons.

With edge rushers Zach Durfee and Russell Davis II out with injuries, Holtzclaw drew his most extended playing time this past weekend against Oregon in the 49-21 loss in Eugene.

Similar to the rest of his Husky defensive teammates, it didn't go all that well, even though he finished with 4 tackles and had that fumble recovery. On one play, Holtzclaw noticeably slipped and fell and missed a tackle that should have been made.

Lance Holtzclaw goes flying through the air to make a tackle against Northwestern.
Lance Holtzclaw goes flying through the air to make a tackle against Northwestern. | Skylar Lin Visuals

He definitely needs more size to go with all of that athleticism. Yet wherever he goes, Holtzclaw will always have that nickname.

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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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