Inside The Huskies

Final Transfer Portal Numbers Are In for Huskies, Ranked No. 9 Nationally

Jedd Fisch has 34 players that he plucked from college football's free-agency arm.

Dan Raley

Maurice Heims (45) chats up new teammate Ephesians Prysock (7) during spring ball.
Maurice Heims (45) chats up new teammate Ephesians Prysock (7) during spring ball. / Skylar Lin Visuals

The University of Washington football team doesn't show up in many Top 25 preseason polls, with coach Jedd Fisch having T-shirts made up and handing them out to his players to remind them of this omission.

However, the Huskies might have a fighting chance to correct this situation down the line after emerging in yet a different kind of ranking.

Rivals.com slots the UW at No. 9 in its transfer portal team rankings -- which means that Husky reinforcements must be on the way -- with the portal closing for business during this particular cycle on Sunday.

The final transfer numbers for Fisch's team are as follows: 34 players signed, including 26 who played or practiced for another school and eight more who signed as freshmen at Arizona and needed to enter the portal in order to void that paperwork so they could follow their coach of choice to Montlake.

The Huskies fall in line, starting at the top, behind Colorado, Louisville, Mississippi, Texas A&M, Arizona State, UCF, Michigan State and Memphis, and finish one slot ahead of California. Ranking third, Ole Miss was helped by acquiring the UW's starting guards from the CFP national championship game -- Nate Kalepo and Julius Buelow -- while ASU turned up fifth, by adding a former Husky back-up offensive tackle in Jalen Klemm.

Low on offensive linemen during spring ball, Fisch pointed to the transfer portal as some sort of magic elixir, saying, "I'd be more concerned if there wasn't an opportunity to bring in more players, but there is that opportunity,"

Breaking down the added manpower, the Huskies picked up 14 players who were full-time starters at some point last season, either finishing out that way or having their run of success interrupted by injury.

Sixteen of these players belonged to Arizona at one point, though only six of them drew game time.

Of these nearly three-dozen newcomers, roughly one third appear to have a solid chance at becoming a UW starter this coming season: running back Jonah Coleman (Arizona), nickelback Jordan Shaw (Indiana/Arizona), wide receiver Jeremiah Hunter (California), cornerback Ephesians Prysock (Arizona), quarterback Will Rogers (Mississippi State), safety Cameron Broussard (Sacramento State), defensive tackle Sebastian Valdez (Montana State), offensive guard Enokk Vimahi (Ohio State), offensive tackle Drew Azzopardi (San Diego State), center D'Angalo Titialii (Portland State), edge rusher Isaiah Ward (Arizona) and defensive tackle Logan Sagapolu (Miami).

Of this group, Coleman, Prysock, Valdez and Azzopardi best resemble possible honors candidates. Coleman and Prysock emerged as All-Pac-12 honorable mention selections last season, while Valdez was named second-team All-Big Sky.

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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