Inside The Huskies

Nothing Wrong with Sam Huard the Transfer Portal Can't Fix

The former UW quarterback is looking for a fourth college program to join.

Dan Raley

Former Huskies head coach Jimmy Lake (left) celebrates with ex-UW quarterback Sam Huard (7) in 2021.
Former Huskies head coach Jimmy Lake (left) celebrates with ex-UW quarterback Sam Huard (7) in 2021. / Joe Nicholson-Imagn Images

No one saw this coming -- not with his gaudy passing numbers, the 5-star quarterback rating and self-assured manner -- but Sam Huard is in the transfer portal for the third time, down to possibly a final chance to make everything right for himself in his football world.

In everything had gone to plan, the 6-foot-2, 204-pound Huard would be entering his senior year with the University of Washington, trying to set a bunch of school passing records, or at the very least surpass the numbers of his father Damon and uncle Brock, former Husky and NFL signal-callers.

Yet this next-generation Huard is leaving Utah, where he didn't play a snap and suffered some sort of season-ending injury, to find someplace he can showcase his quarterback skills in a meaningful manner.

This comes after two nondescript seasons at the UW, where he got lost in the Husky coaching change from Jimmy Lake to Kalen DeBoer and the importation of eventual Heisman Trophy runner-up Michael Penix Jr.

This comes after getting a chance to dust off cobwebs and give his arm a workout in the Big Sky Conference for a Cal Poly team in a significant rebuild.

So where does Sam Huard go from here?

Three years ago, the left-hander could have ended up with practically any FBS program in the country, so great was his reputation and so enticing was his promise for making things happen with a deep spiral.

However, at Utah he didn't appear in any games for a 5-7 team that shuffled through quarterbacks once starter Cam Rising suffered a second consecutive season-ending injury.

After getting stuck behind Penix and Dylan Morris at the UW, Huard played the 2023 season for Cal Poly, started nine times and threw for 2,247 yards and 18 touchdowns, setting a couple of school records in the progress, which offered a hint of his talent.

Huard came to the UW in 2021 as this legacy player and appeared in five games, starting the Apple Cup against Washington State as a freshman and laboring through a 4-interception afternoon as the Huskies lost 40-13 to their rivals.

The thing about Huard is he's bright, athletic and probably still someone who could take over an FBS team in need and lead it somewhere. When he left the UW, he even arranged his own news conference to tell everyone what he was doing.

He's just got to convince somebody, anybody, that he's not damaged goods as a quarterback. After getting injured this season, he likely has two years of eligibility remaining, time enough to still prove he can play at the top college level.

If not, this Huard probably become a sound businessman back in the Seattle area, maybe joining his father in some of his outside ventures, such as sharing in the wine-making industry. By then, he might need a sip of something to forget his nomadic football time.

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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