Inside The Huskies

Decker DeGraaf Now Up to 3 Freshman All-America Rewards

The first-year Husky has been a unanimous choice as the nation's top tight end in his class.

Dan Raley

Decker DeGraaf just missed scoring a touchdown at Penn State.
Decker DeGraaf just missed scoring a touchdown at Penn State. / Skylar Lin Visuals

One guy who's not in the transfer portal is University of Washington freshman tight end Decker DeGraaf.

He's been far too busy taking bows and receiving back slaps for his first season of college football, which has been nothing short of ground-breaking for players everywhere who fill his position, rather than shop himself around.

Pro Football Focus recently named the 6-foot-3, 240-pound DeGraaf from San Dimas, California, as a first-team Freshman All-America selection -- his third such honor, following up similar accolades earlier presented to him by College Football Network and 247Sports.

With so much progress made at the beginning of his college career, DeGraaf stands a good chance of becoming the nation's top tight end in any class by the time he's done in Montlake, as well as upholding the Husky tradition of continuously supplying the NFL with capable tight ends.

Decker, soft spoken and humble, has made sure to credit just about everyone else for his early success with the Huskies. Yet the great ones learn how to adjust as they go and the first-year tight end hasn't encountered anything yet that he couldn't handle.

"I think the speed of the game is way faster and there's a lot more going on," he said. "The complexity of the playbook is obviously a huge difference. But our coaching staff is amazing, and they have so much experience at a high level, in the NFL, they just kept me at a high standard and pushed me to be better every day, and ultimately it got me ready to play early."

While other players across college football have traded schools in a wild manner, trying to find the quickest path to success, DeGraaf represents a throwback player who who has settled in and chosen to study his craft, with only good things awaiting him.

"My football IQ has grown so much since high school with all of the playbook and learning different coverages on defense, and defensive fronts," he said. "I think coach [Jordan] Paopao has done a really good job of developing me as a football player and just making making a whole and well-rounded football player."

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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