Here's What UW Has Lost in Terms of Portal Numbers and Value

A large number of Huskies have exited the program since the transfer window opened.

Gaard Memmelaar started 11 games for the UW and he's now committed to UCF. / Skylar Lin Visuals

Catching a fleeting glimpse of University of Washington football practice early last week, one was struck by the smallness of the assembled group in Dempsey Indoor preparing for the Sun Bowl against Louisville on New Year's Eve.

Fewer than 100 players were running around in helmets and pads that day, with 21 others and counting pulled away from the Huskies by the lure of the transfer portal -- one of the bigger numbers of departures across the Big Ten Conference.

"It's always a shock to see guys just enter the portal randomly, especially when you had talked to them," sophmore receiver Denzel Boston said. 'It's just one of those things of the game. Guys are going to leave. Guys feel like they're not valued at certain places. Now with the NIL, getting treated as if it's the NFL almost but at a smaller scale, guys feel they should be getting paid certain amounts and with that comes a lot of transfers."

Total Big Ten players in the transfer portal by team pic.twitter.com/O8bUGwwtTK

— The Big Ten Huddle 🎙️ (@TheBigTenHuddle) December 17, 2024

The obvious question is how much has this sudden exodus of Montlake talent really hurt the program as Jedd Fisch's first season of rebuilding hits the home stretch?

Well, we'll let the numbers just speak for themselves: Of those 21 Huskies who turned in their transfer papers since Dec. 9, just five of them at an every-down position started one game or more, with only junior offensive guard Gaard Memmelaar considered a full-time starter after drawing 11 game-opening assignments.

However, Memmelaar was hardly guaranteed a second season of starting, what with his snap count steadily dropping over the final month of the regular season. That might have been the big reason he entered the portal and is now committed to Central Florida, better known as UCF, for his sixth and final college football season.

Of the 21 departing Huskies, eight are committed to new schools, leaving more than a dozen scrambling for a place to land.

UW PORTAL DEPATURES (21)	2024 Service
Sam Adams II, RB, Jr.	Played in 12 games as reserve, mostly on special teams
Darren Barkins, CB, Jr.	Played in 2 games as reserve
Ryder Bumgarner, RB, RFr.,	Didn't play in any games
Cam Davis, RB, Sr.	Played in 12 games, started once, committed to Minnesota
Tristan Dunn, S, Soph.	Played in 8 games as reserve, committed to California
Kayden Green, WR, Fr.	Didn't play in any games
Maurice Heims, ER, Jr.	Played in 9 games as reserve
Lance Holtzclaw, ER, Soph.	Played in 12 games as reserve, committed to Utah
Khmori House, LB, Fr.	Played in 12 games, started 5, committed to North Carolina
Elijah Jackson, CB, Jr.	Played in 8 games as reserve
Tyrese Johnson, ER, Fr.	Didn't play in any games
Caleb Johnston, LS, Soph.	Played in 11 games on special teams
Logan Lisherness, LB, RFr.	Didn't play in any games
Jack McCallister, P, Jr.	Played in 12 games on special teams, committed to Nebraska
Gaard Memmelaar, OG, Jr.	Played in 12 games, started 11, committed to UCF
Bryun Parham, LB, Sr.	Played in 4 games, started once, left team at midseason to preserve redshirt, committed to Connecticut
Keith Reynolds, WR/KR, RFr.	Played in 12 games as reserve, special-teamer
Curley Reed, CB, RFr.	Played in 1 game as reserve, committed to Louiaiana Tech
Adam Saul, P, Jr.	Didn't play in any games
Cam Sirmon, WR, Jr.	Played in 11 games as reserve
Kahlee Tafai, OT, RFr.	Played in 8 games, started 4, committed to Minnesota

Of the others who started games, senior running back Cam Davis and senior linebacker Bryun Parham each drew just one opening assignment. Davis, headed for Minnesota, received a symbolic start in his final home game against UCLA, and Parham, bound for Connecticut, was put in the lineup against Northwestern only because the Huskies needed a third linebacker in what was his last UW outing so he could redshirt and come back in 2025 with someone else.

Freshman linebacker Khmori House, who committed over the weekend to Bill Belichick and North Carolina, was a five-game starter and a budding star -- easily making him the Huskies' greatest individual loss among those who left.

Redshirt freshman offensive tackle Kahlee Tafai, maybe a little too big at at 6-foot-5 and 338 pounds but still enticing enough to field several offers and commit to Minnesota, drew four starts on the left side.

Five players in running back Ryder Bumgarner, wide receiver Kayden Greene, edge rusher Tyrese Johnson, linebacker Logan Lisherness and punter Adam Saul, all walk-ons, never appeared in a UW game, this season or any other.

Redshirt freshman cornerback Curley Reed drew just one game appearance as he now returns to his home state to play for Louisiana Tech, while junior cornerback Darren Barkins got on the field just twice this season.

There's a good chance a majority of those who left the Huskies were informed in what amounted to exit interviews that they didn't quite fit the plans of Jedd Fisch's coaching staff and were encouraged to go elsewhere.

So even while 21 seems like a high number of departures, eight of them were non-scholarship players. and the Huskies really haven't been hit as hard as it might seem.

Instead, they've basically done a reset with the bottom sixth of the 85-man scholarship total, trying to upgrade the personnel and move on from a 6-6 season.

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