Inside The Huskies

UW Tight Ends Have Been Treated Fast and Loose

These Huskies don't register very high with the preseason prognosticators.
Dan Raley|
Decker DeGraaf has that happy feeling that comes from scoring a Husky touchdown.
Decker DeGraaf has that happy feeling that comes from scoring a Husky touchdown. | Skylar Lin Visuals

In sizing up this University of Washington football team, most people acknowledge the Huskies will be much improved on offense, score a lot of points and be fun to watch.

The offensive line should be much more physical. Demond Williams Jr. looks to be the nation's fastest quarterback. Running back Jonah Coleman and wide receiver Denzel Boston are getting plenty of preseason attention, as well.

The UW tight ends, however, have been roundly dismissed so far in all of the early list-making taking place.

Most prognosticators have determined these particular Huskies, as a group, rank near the bottom of the Big Ten.

It has not gone unnoticed in Montlake.

"A list came out that we were the second worst tight-end group in the Big Ten," sophomore Decker DeGraaf said. "Which Coach [Jordan] Paopao sent to the group chat to fire us up."

Another list, shown above, has the Huskies 15th out of the conference's 18 teams.

What makes this rather low consensus opinion a little far-fetched is the fact the UW sends more tight ends to the NFL than most schools.

Add to that the fact that DeGraaf was named by two separate organizations as the country's top freshman tight end in 2024.

All of that would seem to merit at least a middle of the pack assessment for him and his fellow tight ends..

As it stands, the 6-foot-3, 245-pound DeGraaf, who caught nearly 30 passes during spring football, is poised to become the Huskies' No. 1 tight end and keep his career on an upward swing.

Behind him is 6-foot-4, 260-pound Quentin Moore, a sixth-year senior who missed all except the opener in 2024 after going down with a season-ending knee injury.

Next up is 6-foot-4, 250-pound sophmore Kade Eldridge, a USC transfer who started last season against LSU.

Add to that freshmen in 6-foot-5, 238-pound Austin Simmons and 6-foot-3, 235-pound Baron Naone, both from Oregon, with Naone considered a 4-star prospect during his recruitment.

If there's been setbacks, junior Ryan Otton recently took medical retirement, unable to get healthy in three seasons with the Huskies, and redshirt freshman Charlie Crowell is still recovering from a knee injury suffered in fall camp a year ago.

But second worst in the Big Ten? That seems unlikely for the UW tight ends.

"We got together and discussed that," DeGraaf said. "We actually set goals. Our goal is to be the best tight-end group in the Big Ten and I think we can do that. We've got a lot of guys who can play."

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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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