Inside The Huskies

Punter Jack McCallister First Husky Headed for Transfer Portal

The three-year starter has one season of eligibility left and wasn't on scholarship.

Dan Raley

Jack McCallister takes a golf swing on the sideline at Oregon.
Jack McCallister takes a golf swing on the sideline at Oregon. / Skylar Lin Visuals

The first University of Washington football player to announce he was leaving for the transfer portal wasn't one most people would have guessed -- punter Jack McCallister.

Yet on Monday, the three-year starter made his decision known on social media, presumably removing himself from the Huskies' upcoming yet undetermined bowl game. The portal opens next Monday, Dec. 9.

While it's not clear what his reasons were for exiting Montlake McCallister was a walk-on player from Edmonds, Washington, who wasn't on scholarship and it's possible that situation wasn't going to change for him at the UW.

Either way, he heads to the portal with 104 career kicks and a 42.3-yard average without having one blocked, with a career long of 62 yards.

This past weekend, McCallister was at his busiest in the 49-21 loss at Oregon, kicking a season-high five times and averaging 44 yards on his punts.

McCallister had an unusual Husky career in the sense that in 2022 he won the punting job over a scholarship transfer brought in, Kevin Ryan from Idaho State, and then had trouble getting on the field. Kalen DeBoer and Ryan Grubb often preferred to go for it on fourth down with their high-powered offense rather than kick it away. McCallister punted just 23 times for the 11-2 Huskies, less than two per outing that season.

A year ago, he punted 45 times for a 41.7 average over 15 games for the CFB title game-bound Huskies, which was three per game. He was at his best against Michigan with five kicks for a 47.8-yard average with a long of 56.

Jack McCallister is shown punting against Oregon from behind.
Jack McCallister is shown punting against Oregon from behind. / Skylar Lin Visuals

McCallister leaves with a season of eligibility remaining. Two other walk-ons in Adam Saul and Troy Petz remain on the roster, but none have punted in a Husky game before. Saul came to the Huskies after a season at two-year El Camino College in Torrance, California. He also spent two seasons at Illinois State, but wasn't used in any games.

The UW also has a commitment for the 2025 class from punter/kicker Tyler Prasuhn from Carlsbad, California. He is believed to be receiving a partial scholarship, though that hasn't been officially confirmed.

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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