Inside The Huskies

Michael Watkins Becomes Third UW Football Player to Enter Portal

The redshirt freshman offensive guard leaves after spending a year in Montlake, but didn't play in any games.

Dan Raley

Michael Watkins (55) has left the UW and entered the transfer portal.
Michael Watkins (55) has left the UW and entered the transfer portal. / Skylar Lin Visuals

Over the weekend, Jedd Fisch was so encouraged by the progress made by his University of Washington offensive linemen through three weeks of spring football, he said 10 of those guys could be starters.

Apparently redshirt freshman Michael Levelle Watkins, who seemed to get buried in the talent upgrade, was not one of them, at least not right away.

So on Tuesday night, the 6-foot-2, 320-pound offensive guard from Glendale, Arizona, revealed he had entered the transfer portal -- the third Husky to do so in the past week, along with cornerback Caleb Presley and long snapper Cameron Warchuck.

Watkins was part of the large contingent of Arizona players and recruits, himself a signee, who followed Jedd Fisch to the UW last year once the latter changed jobs.

He came to Seattle with running back Adam Mohammed, his Apollo High School teammate, already had 300-plus weight and went right into position development, but he didn't appear in any games last season.

This spring, the Huskies brought back veterans Paki Finau, Zach Henning and Geirean Hatchett as guard candidates and welcomed three freshmen who played the position, including John Mills and Champ Taulealea, who were 20 to 30 pounds heavier than Watkins.

Fisch even intimated that Mills and/or Taulealea as first-year players might become starters this coming season.

Watkins, in a social media post, felt a change of football scenery might be in order so he's out the door.

To get 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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