Inside The Huskies

Waters Returns to UW After Taking Brief Dip in Transfer Portal

Southern California safety reaffirms his commitment to the UW.
Dan Raley|
Waters Returns to UW After Taking Brief Dip in Transfer Portal
Waters Returns to UW After Taking Brief Dip in Transfer Portal

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Washington Huskies

The tide goes out and the tide comes in, especially for a football player named Peyton Waters.

On Wednesday, the safety from Van Nuys, California, told 247sports he would play for the University of Washington after all, following a 10-day dalliance in the transfer portal.

Apparently all it took for the 6-foot-2, 170-pound Waters — a 4-star recruit and considered one of the high-end players in the Huskies' 15-player group of December signees — was to get to know the new Jedd Fisch coaching staff, which replaced Kalen DeBoer and his crew, now at Alabama.

Waters was an early enrollee who accompanied the Huskies to the Jan. 8 CFP national championship game against Michigan in Houston and wandered the sidelines wearing No. 28. 

On Jan. 21, Waters became one of eight Husky signees who would enter the transfer portal following the coaching change. Since then, he and two others have withdrawn from the portal and reaffirmed their plans to play for the UW, joined by quarterback Demaricus Davis and linebacker Khmori House, both from Southern California like him.

Waters told 247 one of his concerns was the UW hadn't hired a defensive coordinator, let alone a safeties, linebackers or defensive-line coach, but was reassured the DC should be in place by the end of the week.

Others who have entered the portal after signing with the UW are defensive lineman Ratumana Bulabalavu and Keona Wilhite, offensive lineman Pak Finau, edge rusher Noah Carter and safety Joshua Lair, with none of them retracing their steps. Carter, the Arizona high school player of the year, since has committed to Alabama and DeBoer.

Seven signees avoided the portal altogether and stayed pat with their UW letters of intent in offensive tackle Davit Boyajyan, tight end Decker DeGraaf, cornerback Elias Johnson, defensive tackle Omar Khan, safety Paul Mencke Jr. and wide receivers Jason Robinson and Justice Williams.

The Huskies will sign more players, both from the high school level and the transfer portal, beginning next Wednesday.

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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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