Inside The Huskies

Former UW Quarterback Ethan Garbers Resurfaces at UCLA

The pro-style passer stuck around Seattle just six months before deciding the Huskies weren't for him.

Dan Raley

Ethan Garbers has resurfaced back home in Southern California and announced he will transfer to UCLA — the second University of Washington quarterback to go this route in 19 months.

The 6-foot-3, 215-pound freshman from Newport Beach, California, a one-time 4-star recruit, struck around Seattle for just five-plus months and four games before deciding it wasn't for him.

Quarterback Colson Yankoff, another 4-star recruit, transferred from the UW to UCLA in May 2019. He sat out a season and the 6-3, 211-pounder from Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, moved to receiver and special-teams player this past season..

Garbers was part of a four-player competition to determine the Husky starting quarterback with Dylan Morris, Kevin Thomson and Jacob Sirmon.

Morris, a redshirt freshman from Puyallup, Washington, started all four games in the pandemic-shortened season. Thomson, a grad transfer from Sacramento State, was knocked out of the running late by an injury and has left the program to pursue pro football interests. Sirmon, a sophomore from Bothell, Washington, received mop-up duty in one game and has transferred to Central Michigan.

Garbers' departure so soon was a big surprise to program followers.

This question that needs to be asked: Did he leave because 5-star Seattle-area quarterback recruit Sam Huard is coming and he didn't want to deal with it or did he simply not like the Huskies' often run-first offense?

Said to be highly competitive, it's not likely Garbers ran from the challenge. He comes from a quarterback family, with brother Chase set to start for a third consecutive year at California.

He seems to be happy to have returned home as much as anything.

"Being from SoCal and growing up here, it was really a no-brainer decision for me," he told 247Sports. "I like the direction the football program is going under Chip Kelly and I think they have a chance to be really successful so I'm excited to be part of it."

Garbers chose the Huskies over UCLA, Georgia and Utah, and now doubles back with his one-time backup school. He originally committed to former UW coach Chris Petersen, whose departure might have influenced his exit some.

He'll compete with returning starter Dorian Thompson-Robinson, who will be a senior, and backup Chase Griffin, who played a lot and will be a sophomore.

Garbers redshirted this season and, with NCAA allowances from the pandemic season, he should be able to play right away.

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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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