Everything's Big in Texas Except Its Current Contribution to UW Football

The number of Lone Star players involved in Husky spring ball is surprising.

The University of Washington football team played its last game in Texas, chasing a national championship in Houston in January.

The Huskies' most recent victory came over the Texas Longhorns, beating Steve Sarkisian's guys for a second consecutive year on Jan. 1, with their first win over the mighty Burnt Orange coming in San Antonio 12 months earlier and the second one happening with noted Longhorn fan Matthew McConaughey walking the sideline.

So why does it feel like the UW suddenly is going through a big disconnect with the Lone Star state?

Don't look now, but new coach Jedd Fisch doesn't have one able-bodied Texas player taking part in spring football, which is a big shift from the norm.

This is a program that once made powerful running back Junior Coffey from Dimmitt a household name in Seattle; running back George Fleming from Dallas a Rose Bowl Most Valuable Player and a long-time state politician; and running back Willis Ray Mackey from Luling a one-hit wonder in the Sun Bowl in El Paso. It also hired Jim Owens from Texas A&M to coach the Huskies and sent coach Darrell Royal from the UW to become Texas' most legendary football leader and stadium namesake.

Yet in the spring of 2024, the Huskies are without anyone currently on the active roster who knows where to buy authentic cowboy boys, the best barbecue and a used pick-up truck with a gun rack off the lot.

Last season, seven UW players came from such places in Texas as Waco. Arlington, Lufkin, El Paso and the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex who were on board with the Huskies fresh off an Alamo Bowl victory and headed for a game for all the marbles where the Houston Texans play their NFL home games.

Yet cornerback wide receiver Ja'Lynn Polk of Lufkin is done with college football and preparing to get drafted by the NFL, cornerback Jabbar Muhammad from DeSoto now plays for Oregon, cornerback Jaivion Green from Houston transferred to Stanford, running backs Will Nixon from Waco and Aaron Dumas from El Paso, plus defensive lineman Anthony James from Lavon, entered the transfer portal, and safety Diesel Gordon from Arlington is suspended for a second time, which usually means the point of no return.

James, a 6-foot-5, 272-pound redshirt freshman, checked out of the UW last week, after just 10 months in the Northwest, more injured than healthy while he was here. He never settled on a position, whether it was edge rusher or the DL. He always had a faraway look in his eye, that seemed to suggest he could bolt and go home at any time.

The Huskies in recent seasons have had up to five Texas running backs on the roster in Fort Worth's Emeka Megwa, now at Oklahoma; Waco's Jay'Veon Sunday, now at Abilene Christian; Lufkin's Caleb Berry, briefly at Incarnate Word; Dumas, briefly at UTEP; and Nixon, who entered the transfer portal in March.

Add to that edge rusher and Haslet product Cooper McDonald, who has moved from the UW to San Diego State to TCU this season, and offensive tackle and Houston native Victor Curne, who finished up at Mississippi last year.

No, there hasn't been a concentrated effort to abandon the Texas talent pool. Chris Petersen's staff made it routine to have Texans in the starting line with All-Pac-12 defensive tackle Levi Onwuzurike from Allen and wide receiver Aaron Fuller from McKinney. Jimmy Lake's staff went with McDonald, Curne and Polk as starters in 2021 and used to make a regular pilgrimage to find a Texas running back each year.

DeBoer, for that matter, was responsible for bringing James, Muhammad, Green, Gordon, Nixon and Dumas to Seattle and he actually signed a pair of Texas recruits in safety Paul Mencke Jr. Sibolo and defensive lineman Omar Khan from Cypress, who are still on the way and will arrive in June and begin the restoration of Texas talent in Montlake.

Yet until then, there will be no Texas two-step in the locker room, no tying yellow ribbons around anything and those games in Houston and San Antonio will be remembered as mere road games rather than homecomings for anyone involved.

For the latest UW football and basketball news, go to si.com/college/washington