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One-Time UW Signee Bernard Leaves Michigan State, Enters Portal

Could the speedy wide receiver reconsider playing for the Huskies?
Dan Raley|
One-Time UW Signee Bernard Leaves Michigan State, Enters Portal
One-Time UW Signee Bernard Leaves Michigan State, Enters Portal

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Washington Huskies

For the longest time, wide receiver Germie Bernard — Nevada's 2021 high school player of the year — was headed to the University of Washington football team. 

When Chris Petersen was coach, then when Jimmy Lake was promoted, even after Kalen DeBoer took over.

Bernard showed up in Seattle last January to enroll early in school, only to say enough is enough with the continuous shuffle of UW coaches, particularly the late departure of receivers coach Junior Adams to Oregon, and he asked for his scholarship release.

He ended up at Michigan State, played in the Spartans' 39-28 defeat at Husky Stadium in September and now, as of this week, Bernard has entered the transfer portal.

Websites in East Lansing are writing what those in Montlake suggested last winter — that losing Bernard was something akin to "a gut punch."

The obvious question: Could Bernard backtrack and finally end up at the UW once and for all? 

The DeBoer coaching staff was highly complimentary of the Liberty High School standout from suburban Henderson, Nevada, after receiving his national letter of intent last December.

"He's just a dynamic player, very special," DeBoer said on signing day, referring to him as Jeremy, the player's given name, in the video above.

Clearly, Bernard's Michigan State experience was not a memorable one with the Spartans going from an 11-2 team to 5-7, which included the road loss to the UW, and then having several teammates caught up in a post-game brawl at Michigan and facing legal issues. 

Bernard finished with a modest 7 receptions for 128 yards and a pair of touchdowns, plus 6 kick returns for 119 yards, while appearing in all 12 games played for the Spartans this season. He has three seasons of eligibility remaining.

In that Michigan State-UW game, Bernard notably got outmaneuvered for a sideline pass in the fourth quarter by Husky cornerback Julius Irvin, who intercepted the ball at his expense.

Yet the playmaker likely would be most welcome in Montlake if he gave the program consideration again.

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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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