10 Things That Had An Effect on 2024 Husky Football Season

We look at everything from injuries to slumps to hirings at the UW.

Will Rogers and Jeremiah Hunter trade hand slaps in Rogers' next-to-last game as the Husky starter. / Skylar Lin Visuals

On this day 12 months ago, the University of Washington football team was celebrating its Pac-12 championship won over the weekend in Las Vegas, an unbeaten season through 13 games and a third consecutive victory over Oregon, and prepared to welcome a much anticipated recruiting class filled with portal transfers and high school prospects.

Five weeks later, everything blew up.

Michigan took the national championship game from the Huskies in lopsided fashion and Alabama pilfered coach Kalen DeBoer from them, followed by the SEC, ACC and others raiding the UW roster for multiple players, leaving the program in shambles.

Somebody had to clean up this mess, and Jedd Fisch agreed to do it, leaving Arizona while knowing he would need plenty of patience from the UW administration, Husky fan base and local media to get things right again.

What transpired was a 6-6 season that will be remembered for enlightened wins over fellow rebuilders Michigan, USC and UCLA, but marred by disturbing losses to Indiana, Iowa, Penn State and Oregon.

Outside of DeBoer's career change -- and who in their right mind would turn down an opportunity to coach at Alabama? -- there were several other developments that have kept the Huskies hovering around the .500 mark.

We found 10 things that helped change the UW landscape, as well, listed here in no particular order:

Zach Durfee's Inability to Stay Healthy

Yes, it sounds like a broken record by now, but this guy might be the Huskies' top NFL prospect currently among its 100-plus players, if only he could stay healthy. However, rapidfire elbow, toe and shoulders injuries have limited him to just two full games this season and just one breakout game, in which he had 2.5 sacks and a near pick-6 against Eastern Michigan. The 6-foot-5, 256-pound junior is hardly a fragile player, rather he might have repeatedly become hurt for being such an aggressive player. One of the Huskies' major goals in 2025 will be to keep this guy on the field and share in his potential elite playmaking ability.

Sebastian Valdez (50) and Zach Durfee were supposed to be a 1-2 punch on the defense, but injuries have hurt this effort. / Skylar Lin Visuals

Mishael Powell's Transfer to Miami

Of all the players who left the UW for the transfer portal, Powell might be the one who's played the best since leaving Montlake for the Hurricanes. With 5 interceptions, 5 pass break-ups and a 76-yard pick-six against Wake Forest, he's deserving of All-ACC honors and consequently his departure robbed the Huskies of another playmaker.

Replacing Troy Fautanu with Redshirt Freshmen, Transfer

The Huskies have started three different players in trying to fill the extra-large shoes of Fautanu, the first-team All-Pac-12 offensive tackle, third-team AP All-America pick and 20th overall selection of the NFL draft -- with him succeeded by a pair of redshirt freshmen bookending a transfer with two games played at Maryland. It's been Soane Faasolo, Maximus McCree and Kahlee Tafai. Each has been pushed around by elite opponents at times. Each has started four games. Each needs at least another year in the weight room before taking on major responsibility.

Grady Gross' Scholarship Slump

The Husky place-kicker almost couldn't miss when he was a walk-on player, converting 18 of 22 field goals in 2023, including the walk-off game-winner in the Apple Cup against Washington State, which earned him a scholarship. However, as a fully compensated player, Gross hit an inexplicable kicking slump. He missed 3 of 4 field-goal attempts against Rutgers, which played a big part in the Huskies losing 21-18 to a lesser opponent. He's been 11 of 15 on 3-pointers since that fateful trip to New Jersey.

UW kicker Grady Gross exchanges handshakes with a well-wisher. / Skylar Lin Visuals

Jayvon Parker's Achilles Heel

The junior defensive tackle was enjoying his best career performance for the Huskies against Rutgers, ultimately grading out as the nation's third-best player at his position that weekend by Pro Football Focus, when he ruptured an Achilles tendon in that fifth game on the schedule and was lost for the season. He was arguably the UW's best player up front on defense and at least would have given Oregon more of a problem than his peers did over the weekend.

Will Rogers' Late-Season Slump

Maybe he finally wilted under the constant pressure of limited pocket protection, but Rogers hit a rough spell that cost him his starting job coming down the stretch. He cautioned early on that he wouldn't be another Michael Penix Jr. and he wasn't. But here's wondering how Penix would have fared had he played behind the current Husky offensive line. All along, there probably wasn't much Rogers could do to prevent this situation, especially with freshman Demond Williams Jr. groomed to be the starting quarterback.

Quentin Moore's Blindside Injury

The Husky starting tight end lasted just a quarter and a half of the season, and one reception, before he suffered a season-ending knee injury in a weird way, A Weber State player, realizing he should have been in the game, came off the sideline illegally yet undetected and hit Moore, who did't see him coming. While the long-term drawbacks to his absence are anyone's guess, the Huskies might have won the Apple Cup against WSU with him leading the blocking on the game-ending fourth-and-1 option play for the winning score that failed.

Injured tight end Quentin Moore is helped off the field by his UW teammates. / Skylar Lin Visuals

Reluctant Arizona Reinforcements

With the Wildcats suffering through a 4-8 season without Fisch, here's wondering if stalwart players such as wide receiver Tetairoa McMillan, cornerback Tacario Davis, linebacker Jacob Manu and offensive linemen Jonah Savaiinaea and Raymond Pulido didn't second-guess whether they should have followed their former coach to Seattle and enjoyed more team success, with Fisch matching the single-source talent influx that Curt Cignetti did at Indiana. Maybe some of them with eligibility remaining might yet reconsider coming north, knowing they could be needed in Seattle.

Russell Davis II's Bookend Injuries

Only UCLA was terrorized this season by this guy coming off the edge to the tune of three Davis sacks and the Bruins are probably wondering how they got so lucky. Otherwise, he had to nurse a series of injuries that's kept him sidelined through the first eight games and now will keep him out of the final two outings as he heads to surgery. He certainly would have provided a lot more pressure than his teammates did at Oregon last weekend.

Hiring Ryan Grubb Rather Than Fisch

While Fisch appears to be a good fit in Montlake, here's wondering what might have happened to the Huskies had the school instead hired Grubb, who made a big push for the job. Maybe the Huskies would be 4-8 right now. Yet it's possible most of those Husky offensive linemen might have stayed put with their creative offensive coordinator in charge, as well as 6-foot-6, 235-pound redshirt freshman and potential star quarterback Austin Mack, and maybe someone on the defensive side such as Powell, leaving the rebuild far less obtrusive than it has been. We'll never know.

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