Inside The Huskies

Cal Welcomes Another Former Husky Player from Transfer Portal

Long snapper Caleb Johnston appeared in nine games for the UW this past season.

Dan Raley

Former UW snapper Caleb Johnston (82) shakes hands with punter Jack McCallister, who have transferred to Cal and Nebraska.
Former UW snapper Caleb Johnston (82) shakes hands with punter Jack McCallister, who have transferred to Cal and Nebraska. / Skylar Lin Visuals

Caleb Johnston, who provided long-snapping help to the University of Washington football team in nine games this past season, will transfer to California, becoming the third Husky to relocate to Berkeley in this transfer portal window.

Johnston joins edge rusher Jayden Wayne and safety Tristan Dunn who likewise have gone from the UW to the Bears, to a program with a decided UW footprint all over it. Each of these players are juniors who have two seasons of eligibility remaining.

Cal is coached by Justin Wilcox, the Husky defensive coordinator in 2012 and 2013 when Steve Sarkisian was in charge. His defensive coordinator Peter Sirmon and defensive backs coaches Terrence Brown and Tre Watson each are either former UW coaches or players.

For the 5-foot-11, 221-pound Johnston, it was a chance to go home. He grew up in Ripon just 75 miles east of Berkeley on Interstate 580.

Johnston joined the Huskies as a walk-on in 2022 once Kalen DeBoer took over as coach but didn't get into any games for two seasons while Jaden Green handled all of the snapping as a four-year starter.

Once Green graduated, the UW brought in Colorado transfer Cameron Warchuck to replace him, but there wasn't a smooth transition at all.

Eventually, Jedd Fisch's coaching staff split up the snapping chores between Johnston and Warchuck, with the former handling all plack-kicking snaps and Warchuck dealing with punting downs.

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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