Inside The Huskies

UW Dips Into Sac State Talent Pool for Another Player

DeShawn Watts commits to Huskies, giving them a much-needed defensive tackle.
Dan Raley|
DeSean Watts played for Sacramento State in 2025.
DeSean Watts played for Sacramento State in 2025. | Sac State

When it comes to football talent, Sacramento State hasn't failed the University of Washington yet after providing the Huskies with a pair of part-time defensive starters in recent seasons.

With DeSean Watts, the UW will see if it can get even more mileage out of this guy on the same side of the ball.

On Tuesday, the 6-foot-2, 318-pound Watts from Fresno, California -- a first-team All-Big Sky selection at defensive tackle -- announced he is committed to the Huskies out of the transfer portal, becoming the third new player to join Jedd Fisch's program in two days.

He follows former Sam Houston offensive tackle Kolt Dieterich and ex-San Diego State punter Hunter Green to Montlake, with plenty of others expected over the next 10 days.

Watts, an 11-game starter for a 7-5 Sacramento State team this past season, partially solves the Huskies' biggest position need -- which is a defensive tackle or possibly two -- after four others up front left because of graduation or portal defection.

He comes off a lone season with the Hornets in which piled up 36 tackles, 4 tackles for loss, 2 sacks, and 4 quarter back hurries.

Watts also spent two years at Fresno City College, playing a full season in 2024 and redshirting the season before.

He has at least two years of eligibility remaining and maybe more if the NCAA provides waivers for JC time as it is considering.

Watts comes to the UW following the lead of former Hornets safety Cam Broussard and ex-edge rusher DeShawn Lynch.

Broussard played only the 2024 season for the Huskies and started seven games while Lynch played two seasons and was a four-game starter in 2024 and an 11-game reserve this past fall.

DeShawn Watts got the graphic treatment at Sacramento State.
DeShawn Watts got the graphic treatment at Sacramento State. | Sacramento State

Watts provides a fairly compact player who provides plenty of quickness and uses leverage to his advantage. Pro Football Focus rated him fourth nationally among FCS interior defensive linemen against the run, using some sort of customized formula.

He came up with a season high 7 tackles against Nevada in a 20-17 loss and 6 tackles in a 40-35 victory over Northern Colorado, playing for a Hornets team that counted former UW running back Sam Adams II as a teammate.

On the JC level in 2024, Watts totaled 21 tackles for FCC, which included 8.5 tackles for loss and 5 sacks.

Watts came through the UW this past weekend on a recruiting visit and needed just 48 hours to decide this would be his next stop.

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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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