Inside The Huskies

One-Time Husky QB Dermaricus Davis On Portal Move Again

The signal-caller is looking for fourth school after playing this past season at Hawaii.
Dan Raley|
Dermaricus Davis is shown at UW spring ball in 2024.
Dermaricus Davis is shown at UW spring ball in 2024. | Skylar Lin Visuals

Twenty-five months ago, an upbeat Kalen DeBoer sat in front of the media gathered before him in a Husky Stadium team meeting room and went line by line through his University of Washington football signees.

He stopped and spoke glowingly about his incoming quarterback Dermaricus Davis, whom he referred to as "Mar Mar."

DeBoer mentioned how this 6-foot-4, 200-pound California kid had all of the right measurables, such as the ability to run combined with attractive arm strength.

While a little on the quiet side, the coach said he could see leadership qualities emerging in Davis through the past season.

"I'm just really excited about what the future is with our quarterback position," DeBoer said at the time. "He's obviously attracted to what has happened and what our tradition is being quarterback-driven and quarterback-led, whether it be statistical or being that guy on our football team."

Jimmie Daugherty puts the departed Dermaricus Davis through a drill to test his concentration.
Jimmie Daugherty puts the departed Dermaricus Davis through a drill to test his concentration. | Skylar Lin Visuals

A month later, the coach left for Alabama, leaving behind his two-year job in Montlake and recruits such as the young quarterback to fend for themselves.

Since then, Davis has become one of the sad consequences of a wild-fire college football landscape, where development, continuity and future promises mean absolutely nothing.

On Thursday, the signal-caller from Altadena, California, announced he would enter the transfer portal for a third time -- going from two weeks at the UW to a season at UCLA to another at Hawaii to the great unknown.

Now there's a good chance, with all of his program hopping, the time for Davis to excel on the college level has come and gone.

At Hawaii, he appeared in seven games as a reserve and completed just 1 of 3 passes for 10 yards and rushed seven times for 67 yards.

Will Rogers lets fly with a pass while departed QB Dermaricus Davis watches.
Will Rogers lets fly with a pass while departed QB Dermaricus Davis watches. | Skylar Lin Visuals

Where he envisioned spending his career at the UW with DeBoer, Davis stuck around for just over two weeks of spring ball with Jedd Fisch's staff and bolted to UCLA.

He was brought in with fellow freshman Demond Williams Jr. and quickly fell behind the other guy in competition for the back-up job behind then-Mississippi State transfer Will Rogers.

Fisch acknowledged that the graceful Davis was a little jumpy while running the Husky offense and his hand-picked player in Williams seemed more comfortable in making the transition to college football.

Davis turned up at UCLA, but never appeared in a game, and left for the transfer portal once more, which led him to a brief stay at Hawaii.

While it's possible Davis, as a 4-star recruit, simply wasn't as good as everyone originally suggested, it's also quite possible the game, with all of its impersonal changes, did great harm to him.

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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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