Inside The Huskies

A Pre-Apple Cup Moment with Husky TE Jack Westover

The former walk-on player is the UW's leading receiver at his position.

Dan Raley

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Jack Westover, as the Washington State Cougars no doubt have discovered entering Saturday night's Apple Cup in Pullman, is a hard player to scout.

Foremost, he's a University of Washington tight end, supposedly the back-up to fellow junior Devin Culp, yet Westover has caught 25 passes for 296 yards and a touchdown — which is two receptions and 71 yards more than Culp, while each has scored once this season.

Westover likewise has a history of running the football, rushing five times for 22 yards in 2020.

This season, the 6-foot-3, 245-pounder has returned a pair of kickoffs for 15 yards.

Oh yeah, Westover also has  collected two special-teams tackles, one each coming against Oregon State and Colorado.

And who was it exactly who said new Husky coach Kalen DeBoer and Company wouldn't use the tight end that much at all?

It certainly wasn't Westover, who's been more than satisfied with how everything has turned out with the Huskies winning nine of 11 games so far, and utilizing the tight end in a significant way to make that happen. 

Coming out in different UW game-opening sets, he's started three times this season, while Culp has 10 starting assignments and even No. 3 tight end Quentin Moore has opened once. 

New offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb didn't hesitate to describe both Westover and Culp as "wildly athletic" when the UW went to work installing the new offense and nothing has happened to change that assessment.

"It's been exciting coming in to this offseason with a lot of uncertainty, really not knowing what was going to happen and sticking around, staying the course and just getting back to the work part of it," Westover said. "It's been really fun and a cool experience."

The DeBoer coaching staff took over and installed a wide-open offense that, sure, it can split four or five wide receivers out wide. Still, the new leaders also have gone with three tight ends at a time, all of which works well for Westover.

"I think it really fits my skill set as a player," he said. "I'm not like a ground-and-pound tight end; I'm not 6-6, 260. That's not my kind of play style. This offense gives the tight end a little more finesse, I'd say. It's been a really good fit for me."

BEAVER BEATER :: Joe Nicholson/USA TODAY Sports

Tight end Jack Westover got wide open in the end zone to haul in this 24-yard touchdown pass in the third quarter of the Huskies' 24-21 victory at home. 

HIGH QUALITY RECEIVER / Skylar Lin Visuals

Showing off his athleticism, UW tight end Jack Westover leaps over an Arizona defender on this 26-yard reception during the Huskies' 49-39 victory.

BEAR MARKET :: Darren Yamashita/USA TODAY Sports

UW wide receiver Jalen McMillan and tight end Jack Westover, wearing the Huskies' custom white and golden trim uniforms, confer during their 28-21 victory. 

CARDINAL SIN :: Joe Nicholson/USA TODAY Sports

Junior tight end Jack Westover had a productive outing in the Huskies' 40-22 victory over Stanford, catching 3 passes for 30 yards

WESTOVER EASTBOUND / Skylar Lin Visuals

Jack Westover, the Huskies' No. 2 tight end, caught a 19-yard pass from Michael Penix Jr. and tries to elude a defender in a 52-6 beating of Portland State.

PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT / Skylar Lin Visuals

Tight end Jack Westover, wearing a protective helmet cover, heads upfield after catching a pass during the Huskies' fall football camp.

MICHIGAN WELCOME :: Kirthmon F. Dozier/USA TODAY Sports

A pair of Michigan defenders hit UW tight end Jack Westover high and low in this 2021 game in Ann Arbor, which the Wolverines won 31-10.

WESTOVER INTERVIEW / Dan Raley

Jack Westover meets with the media before the Apple Cup.

While the UW has been a steady source of NFL tight ends over the past decade, someone remarked the other day that Westover is so skilled yet unassuming he might be that guy who quietly enjoys a 10-year pro football career. 

"That's cool to hear that," Westover said. "The NFL is the top one percent of the one percent. It would be a blessing to do that. Yeah, it's cool to hear that. Me and Devin have been having a lot of fun this year."

Together, they form one highly productive UW tight end as they either share plays or alternate them, collectively piling up 48 catches for 531 yards and those 2 scores.

In his fifth season, which includes a redshirt year, Westover arrived without a scholarship from Mount Si High School in Snoqualmie, Washington, and immediately went to work in showing Chris Petersen's coaching staff he could play right away.

"From a competitive mindset, I've always felt like I could compete with anybody," Westover said. "It doesn't matter if they're four or five years older than me or what. That was kind of my mindset I had coming in — is my time would come."

It has, multiple times over for the versatile tight end, enough so that the Cougars should be wary of how the Huskies might use him once the Apple Cup kicks off.

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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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