Inside The Huskies

2025 Husky Starting Quarterback Competition Could Be Fun

Jedd Fisch leans to the shorter, quicker signal-caller and he will have a bunch of them.

Dan Raley

Jedd Fisch and Dash Beierly pose during the QB's campus visit last weekend.
Jedd Fisch and Dash Beierly pose during the QB's campus visit last weekend. / UW

Had things turned out differently, on many fronts, Kalen DeBoer would still be the University of Washington football coach trying to determine who would be his Husky starting quarterback for 2025 and beyond.

His potential candidates could have been: Sam Huard, Lincoln Kienholz and Dermaricus Davis.

DeBoer was unable to publicly comment on a possible Huard-Kienholz competition because he never received a signed national letter of intent from the latter, but he offered a knowing smile when both of those quarterbacks at least were committed to him and he was asked how eager he was to see that position battle play out someday.

Of course, none of those guys are still hanging around Montlake because everyone in college football is dropping football teams these days like a regular student does a biology class.

DeBoer, of course, is now at Alabama, Huard at Utah, Kienholz at Ohio State and Davis at UCLA.

Over the weekend, 6-foot-1, 215-pound Ashton "Dash" Beierly from Santa Ana, California, who is committed to the UW for 2025, took his official visit, posed for photos with a miniature Space Needle and a regular-sized Jedd Fisch, and went home posting positive thoughts about his Northwest tour.

His presence, once he finishes his senior year with the Mater Dei football powerhouse, stirs up another intriguing QB competition scenario for Montlake.

A year from now, holdover 5-foot-11, 185-pound Demond Williams Jr., who will be a sophomore or redshirt freshman depending how Fisch uses him this fall; an incoming freshman in 5-foot-10, 210-pound Treston "Kini" McMillan from Mililani, Hawaii; and Beierly tentatively will enter into a quarterback battle as the top candidates to see who replaces Will Rogers as the starter for the 2025 season.

It could be fun with a lot of speedy and compact Russell Wilson wannabes running around Husky Stadium, trying to show who's the most confident, who's the quickest in scrambling out of the pocket and who has the best arm strength.

Add to that group 6-foot-1, 202-pound Shea Kuykendall, the Northern Colorado transfer who will arrive soon but appears to be more of traditional pocket passer.

No matter how it shakes out, the Huskies clearly have made a subtle shift from the taller quarterback that previously had been a program staple with players such as 6-foot-6 Jacob Eason, 6-foot-5 Jacob Sirmon, the 6-foot-5 Davis, and even the 6-foot-3 Michael Penix Jr.

In 2025, it should be noted that Ohio State will visit Husky Stadium while the UW plays UCLA in the Rose Bowl. Dare to dream a little: it could be Kienholz and Davis taking snaps for those respective Big Ten opponents against Williams, Beierly or even McMillan.

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

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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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