Inside The Huskies

Huskies Add One-Time 5-Star Texas HS Receiver

Johntay Cook will join the UW after leaving Steve Sarkisian's Texas Longhorns team during the season.

Dan Raley

Texas receiver Johntay Cook makes a touchdown catch over UTSA safety Elijah Newell this season.
Texas receiver Johntay Cook makes a touchdown catch over UTSA safety Elijah Newell this season. / Aaron E. Martinez/USA TODAY Network via Imagn Images

Johntay Cook, a wide receiver and a one-time 5-star recruit who grew impatient with Texas and quit at midseason, on Saturday committed to the University of Washington football team, looking for a fresh start with the Huskies after considering Florida.

The 6-foot, 186-pound Cook from DeSoto, Texas, appeared in 20 games for the Longhorns -- including the Sugar Bowl and the CFP semifinal game against the UW a year ago -- and caught 16 passes for 273 yards and 2 touchdowns.

However, he walked away from Steve Sarkisian's team on Nov. 7 after watching his snaps begin to decrease in a talented position group and sitting out two games, and his departure made headlines across the college football landscape.

Cook will be asked to help restore the Husky receiving corps, which will lose leading pass-catcher Giles Jackson and fellow starter Jeremiah Hunter with their eligibility running out after Tuesday's Sun Bowl against Louisville is held. Cook has two seasons left to play.

Cook came to the Longhorns from the Dallas suburbs and DeSoto High School -- the prototypical Friday Night Lights scenario with the huge stadium and an enthusiastic following. In three seasons, he had 165 catches for 2,965 yards and 50 touchdowns.

He rated as high as the nation's No. 29 schoolboy player and No. 3 wide receiver by 247Sports and came to Texas with over-the-top fanfare, yet he got bogged down in a highly competitive position group.

Cook obviously felt he should have been playing a lot more right away, while Sarkisian did not, having built considerable wide-receiver depth, and their relationship frayed from there. The coach called it a mutual parting when the receiver left.

Johntay Cook celebrates a touchdown catch against UTSA.
Johntay Cook celebrates a touchdown catch against UTSA. / Aaron E. Martinez/American-Statesman / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

"We really try to pride ourselves on being a heck of a developmental program," the coach said at the time, trying to explain Cook's departure. " I think that we have some examples on our roster today of guys that maybe weren't front-line starters in year one or year two and then developed into really productive players. So I try not to fall prey to that [mindset], that that's just what is going to happen. But I understand it when it does happen, if that makes sense."

After week 4, Cook's snaps began to dwindle, according to the Austin Statesman. He took only 7 snaps against Mississippi State and 4 against Oklahoma, before not being used against Georgia or Vanderbilt. So he left.

In his lone breakout Longhorns outing against UTSA in the third game of the season, Cook caught a 19-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Quin Ewers in the first quarter and a 12-yard scoring toss from backup Arch Manning in the fourth quarter of a 56-7 victory. He finished with 3 catches for 35 yards.

At the UW, with mostly younger receivers, including five incoming freshmen, Cook stands to have unheeded opportunity to show what he can do.

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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