Inside The Huskies

Jayden Wayne Comes Home Only to Leave Again

The former Husky edge rusher seemed mired in the depth chart.

Dan Raley

Jayden Wayne applies end-zone pressure to the Northwestern quarterback.
Jayden Wayne applies end-zone pressure to the Northwestern quarterback. / Skylar Lin Visuals

At the same moment the University of Washington was formally welcoming Ryan Walters as the new defensive coordinator, news began to circulate on Friday that Huskies edge rusher Jayden Wayne was headed or the transfer portal.

The timing of it all was a little dubious because wouldn't you first wait and see how you stack up with the new guy and his defensive plans, especially when you're a local product?

Instead, the 6-foot-6, 262-pound Wayne, a junior-to-be from Tacoma, Washington, will make himself available in the portal for the second time in two seasons, after leaving Miami for the Huskies a year ago.

Two things likely prompted this decision: while he appeared in 11 of 13 UW games, he found himself buried in the deepest position group on the team. In fact, he's been the third edge rusher to leave Husky roster since the portal re-opened, joining Lance Holtzclaw and Maurice Heims on the showroom floor.

The second thing is Wayne might want to find a new trainer who can get a proper read in building his body.

While he has plenty of size to mix it up outside, Wayne might have been too heavy because it looked like he notably lacked explosiveness, which might have kept him well down the depth chart. He often entered the field with the third set of Husky edge rushers.

In fall camp, he drew plaudits from coach Jedd Fisch as an up-and-coming player, but it was short-lived progress.

'I think Jayden Wayne showed up a bunch today," Fisch said in August. "I saw him make some plays on the screen game, which was really impressive. He's big, strong."

Wayne must be more than a little frustrated his college football career hasn't taken off in a big way just yet. With 42 scholarship offers, according to 247Sports, he was considered one of the state's top players when he played at Tacoma's Lincoln High School before spending his senior year at the IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida.

Nearly all of the SEC made a bid for him, among them Alabama, Florida, Georgia, LSU, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas and Texas A&M.

At Miami, he appeared in eight games and started the 2023 Pinstripe Bowl against Rutgers, and finished with 13 tackles. He left Miami after spring football. For the Huskies, he missed only games against UCLA and Oregon and finished with 6 tackles, one against six different teams.

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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