Inside The Huskies

Last Call: Husky Running Back Sam Adams Turns to Transfer Portal

The one-time 4-star recruit has played in 31 UW games, but never started.

Dan Raley

Sam Adams cools off on UW sideline during a game.
Sam Adams cools off on UW sideline during a game. / Skylar Lin Visuals

If anything, Sam Adams II showed how truly competitive major college football can be.

In 2020, he came to the University of Washington as this newly signed 4-star running back from suburban Seattle, as someone who had received 41 scholarship offers, according to his 247Sports profile, with Alabama, Florida, LSU, Michigan, Ohio State, Oregon, Penn State, Tennessee and Texas among his suitors.

On Monday, Adams entered the transfer portal after spending the past season as no better than the Huskies' fourth-string ball carrier.

The 6-foot-2, 212-pound rusher, a fifth-year junior, managed to play in 31 games for the UW, including all 12 this season, but never for very long and never as a starter.

For Jedd Fisch's Huskies, Adams ran the ball just eight times for 19 yards while appearing mostly on special teams.

He lined up in the UW running-back pecking order behind junior Jonah Coleman, who became a 1,000-yard rusher and a third-team All-Big Ten selection; senior Cam Davis, a part-time starter now in his sixth season in Montlake; and freshman Adam Mohammed, a budding standout player.

This Adams is the son of Sam Adams, a former Texas A&M consensus All-America selection, No. 1 draft pick for the Seattle Seahawks and an NFL Pro Bowl choice at defensive tackle who played the game at nearly 150 pounds heavier than his son.

He is the grandson of the late Sam Adams Sr. who played offensive guard for 10 seasons in the NFL with the New England Patriots and New Orleans Saints.

Adams presumably will exit with UW career totals of 31 carries for 82 yards and a touchdown rushing, and 7 catches for 52 yards and 2 scores.

In 2022, he even scored on a 4-yard TD pass from Michael Penix Jr. to put the Huskies ahead for good at 21-14 in an eventual 49-39 victory over Arizona in Seattle -- coming against Fisch, his current UW leader.

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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