Inside The Huskies

Portal Claims Another As UW Loses Marcus Harris

The touted wide receiver dealt with injuries and appeared in just one Husky game.
Dan Raley|
Marcus Harris draws a bead on the football during spring practice.
Marcus Harris draws a bead on the football during spring practice. | Skylar Lin Visuals

If the University of Washington football team wasn't weary enough in dealing with this madcap transfer portal cycle, the news that Demond Williams Jr. is staying put apparently wasn't enough to keep wide receiver Marcus Harris in Montlake.

On Friday, the 6-foot-1, 190-pound pass-catcher from Southern California's Mater Dei powerhouse entered the transfer portal, he posted on social media.

Harris was one of five freshmen receivers to join the UW program in the past year and maybe the first of the bunch to repeatedly run with the No. 1 offense during spring football.

However, a series of injuries set him back, he appeared only at the end of the LA Bowl and now he will become the second 2025 receiver to leave after one Husky season, joining Raiden Vines-Bright, who will transfer to Arizona State.

The Huskies did a lot of work to convince Harris to come to the UW in the first place, flipping him during his recruitment from Oklahoma at the last minute more than a year ago.

Harris at first narrowed his endless choices to Georgia, Oklahoma, Oregon, Tennessee and Texas before choosing the Sooners in June 2024. 

Two weeks before his sign day in December that year, the speedster remained staunchly committed to Oklahoma while Jedd Fisch continued to ask about him, having spotted him while recruiting Mater Dei quarterback Dash Beierly.

Ramonz Adams (16) comes up on wide receiver Marcus Harris during the UW Spring Game.
Ramonz Adams (16) comes up on wide receiver Marcus Harris during the UW Spring Game. | Skylar Lin Visuals

A few days before the signing deadline, Harris de-committed. Just hours before players began turning in their player agreements, the receiver agreed to play for the UW.

"Last night at about 11:45 p.m., I got a text from the coaches who said Marcus has decided Washington is where he wanted to go since the very beginning," Fisch said back then. "It just took him about a year to figure it out."

All of that apparently is moot now. Harris is the 17th UW player to enter the transfer portal, with Williams reversing his decision.

Former UW receivers coach JaMarcus Shephard and Marcus Harris mug for the camera on the player's recruiting visit in 2023.
Former UW receivers coach JaMarcus Shephard and Marcus Harris mug for the camera on the player's recruiting visit in 2023. | UW Athletics

While nothing should be surprising about anyone's transfer portal decision, Harris will walk away at a time where the Huskies need to bolster their receiving corps.

They're significantly down in numbers and in need of at least one starter.

They've also lost potential NFL first-round pick Denzel Boston, Penn State transfer Omari Evans, Audric Harris and Vines-Bright.

Boston has made himself available to the draft and Evans is out of eligibility. The others left for new teams.

From this group, Boston started 11 games this past season, Vines-Bright opened seven, Evans started four and Harris just one.

Boston, Evans and then-freshman Dezmen Roebuck, who is returning, were the LA Bowl starters against Boise State.

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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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