Inside The Huskies

With No New Addition, Breaking Down the UW Quarterback Situation

Once Lincoln Kienholz flipped his commitment, the Huskies moved on without a new signal-caller.

Dan Raley

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On signing day, Kalen DeBoer unveiled at least one new player for every position on his University of Washington football roster except one — quarterback.

He held a verbal commitment that wasn't binding from South Dakota's Lincoln Kienholz until 10 days before letters of intent were due. However, the Midwest teenager become part of the great quarterback recruiting sweepstakes that swept through the college ranks uncontrolled with one program after another poaching players.

Kienholz flipped to Ohio State, this after the the Big Ten school had showed zero interest in him, at least until it lost Tennessee quarterback product Brock Glenn to Florida State and promising 2024 Arizona prospect Dylan Raiola to a sudden de-commitment.

Oregon watched Michigan QB Dante Moore flip to UCLA and then flipped Texas signal-caller Austin Novosad from Baylor to the Ducks.

Malachi Nelson, the nation's top 2023 prospect at this valuable position, flipped from Oklahoma to USC, this after fellow California-raised signal-caller Jaden Rashada backed out on his Miami commitment and joined Florida, and so it went.

DeBoer and his staff finally determined to go without a high school quarterback during this recruiting cycle — after making a late run at Sam Leavitt, an Oregonian who de-committed from Washington State only to sign with Michigan State — and turning their full attention to Thursday night's Alamo Bowl against Texas in San Antonio.

The Huskies chose to move on with the three veteran quarterbacks currently available on the UW roster in starter Michael Penix Jr., former two-year starter Dylan Morris and one-time 5-recruit star Sam Huard.

The cynical would say money talks when it comes to quarterback prospects these days, though Kienholz insists he was offered more NIL money from the Huskies than Ohio State.

"I think Washington had better NIL," Kienholz told Menace 2 Sports. "I could go to Washington and get money, or I could go to Ohio State, get developed, and go to the NFL."

Yet since these funds changing hands aren't publicly disclosed or reported to any governing body, the legitimacy of all this bidding remains to be seen.

The quarterback position because of its importance just begs for rampant cheating, stealing or whatever you want to label the back-room dealings now taking place during recruiting.

DeBoer said he would prefer to have four scholarship quarterbacks available at all times, but he could live with three. Anything less than that would require immediate attention from his staff. 

"I think we're comfortable with three," the Husky coach said. "I would be much more comfortable with four. I know in today's day and age, it's hard to have four on the roster. We went into the recruiting process thinking Mike would be gone."

Morris and Huard no doubt were counting on Penix, the nation's leading passer with 4,354 yards, to be NFL-bound and the UW quarterback job to re-open for competition this spring until the latter surprised everyone by declaring his intentions to return to the Huskies.

That leaves DeBoer to see if he can retain all three holdover players entering next season. If not, his staff likely would have to revisit the transfer portal, which is where the UW obtained Penix from Indiana. 

"We know Mike has a year left and we know Sam has a few and Dylan has two; the clock's ticking for those guys, too," the Husky coach said. "We'll continue to pour into those guys and it would probably lead you to think you should [eventually] take a younger guy. But in today's day and age, as you see at these other positions, you have to be willing to adjust."

As for Morris and Huard, their situations won't become clear, whether one or both has become impatient with the continuing presence of Penix, until after the postseason game is played this coming week. He expects to have the the latter two players on hand for the foreseeable future. 

"[There's] no indication right now that would make me feel they aren't going to be,"  DeBoer said of the reserve quarterbacks.

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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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