Inside The Huskies

Louisville QB Tyler Shough Opts Out of Sun Bowl

The former Oregon signal-caller will focus on the NFL Draft.

Dan Raley

Louisville QB Tyler Shough has opted out of the Sun Bowl against the Huskies.
Louisville QB Tyler Shough has opted out of the Sun Bowl against the Huskies. / Jamie Rhodes-Imagn Images

Quarterback Tyler Shough never faced the University of Washington football team in his three seasons at Oregon. Two schools later, he's made sure that won't happen at Louisville either after he opted out of playing against the Huskies on Dec. 31 in the Sun Bowl, choosing to turn his attention to the NFL Draft.

On Wednesday, the 6-foot-5, 225-pound Shough -- appearing in his seventh season of college football -- made this disclosure, leaving the Cardinals (8-4) notably short-handed heading into the postseason encounter.

Gone is an anticipated matchup of a pair of quarterbacks who hail from Chandler, Arizona, in Shough and UW freshman Demond Williams Jr., though they played at different high schools.

Louisville will be left to start senior Harrison Bailey or redshirt freshman Pierce Clarkson, who each made a limited number of mop-up appearances this past season.

The 6-foot-5, 230-pound Harrison from Marietta, Georgia, previously played for UNLV and has thrown just 11 passes in two seasons at Louisville, though he connected on all 8 of his attempts this season.

Clarkson, a 6-foot-1, 195-pounder, played his high school football for St. John Bosco in Bellflower, California, where he teamed with current UW linebackers Khmori House and Deven Bryant. He's thrown 4 passes this season and completed all but one.

Shough is a journeyman player who spent three seasons each at Oregon and Texas Tech before he flourished in his lone campaign at Louisville under the guidance of coach Jeff Brohm, a former Cardinals and NFL quarterback.

He previously appeared in 15 games for the Ducks in 2018-20, but never got on the field in two outings against the UW, with a third game against the Huskies during the COVID-interrupted season canceled in 2020 when he was the starter.

Shough took a majority of the snaps for Louisville this season, completing 244 of 389 passes for 3,195 yards and 23 touchdowns, with 6 interceptions.

Yet Brohm will need to get another QB ready in a hurry to face the Huskies in El Paso.

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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