UW's Transfer Running Backs Won't Take Part in Spring Ball

The University of Washington football team won't have its two newly added running backs from the transfer portal available for spring football practice, which begins on Tuesday, coach Jedd Fisch said this week.

Former Oregon rusher Jayden Limar recently underwent ankle surgery while ex-Troy runner Trey Cooley apparently doesn't arrive in Seattle until the summer, Fisch told On Montlake's Christian Caple in a recent interview.

"We just cleaned it up," Fisch said of Limar's ankle repair. "He should be able to start running full speed in June."

Neither one of these veteran backs, who each have a season of eligibility remaining at the UW, has had a heavy workload during their respective college careers, with Cooley barely playing at all over the past two seasons.

The 5-foot-11, 200-pound Limar from Lake Stevens, Washington, comes to the Huskies with just 95 career carries for 442 yards and 4 touchdowns over three seasons with the Ducks.

This past year, he appeared in eight games and rushed 46 times for 262 yards and 3 scores, often used as Oregon's No. 3 running back and leaving the team before the team's playoff run was complete.

The 5-foot-10, 208-pound Cooley from Raleigh, North Carolina, missed all of last season for Troy with a knee injury and nearly all of 2024 with a concussion while playing for Georgia Tech, appearing in just two games.

"I felt that with [Limar] not being able to go, we need to make sure that we have guys that have carried the ball in high-level games, and also just have another guy in the room," Fisch said of adding Cooley to the roster.

Cooley got hit in the head on a kickoff against Florida State in the 2024 season opener and didn't play again until late in that season against Miami.

Georgia Tech running back Trey Cooley (0) catches a pass against Mississippi in 2023. | Petre Thomas-Imagn Images

He comes to the UW with career rushing totals at Louisville and Georgia Tech of 215 yards for 1,009 yards and 6 touchdowns. He never appeared in a game for Troy.

At running back for spring ball, the Huskies are left with returnees in third-year sophomore Jordan Washington and redshirt freshmen Quaid Carr and Julian McMahan, plus incoming freshmen Brian Bonner and Ansu Sanoe.

Last year's starter Jonah Coleman is now preparing for the NFL Draft and should be a mid-round selection, while his back-up Adam Mohammed transferred to California after the season ended with two years of eligibility remaining.