Purcell's Husky Program Loyalty Gets Rewarded

The coaching staff makes room for the walk-on quarterback to get into a game.

Teddy Purcell looks for a receiver in fall camp. / Skylar Lin Visuals

Husky Stadium was nearly empty, the midnight hour was approaching and everything on the field was long decided, but the final snap of the Washington-Weber State football game was hardly meaningless.

Teddy Purcell, a fourth-year walk-on quarterback from Menlo Park, California, hustled onto the field, took the snap at the UW 49, took a knee and now can forever say he played in the real thing on Saturday for the Huskies.

It was a symbolic move meant to reward the 6-foot-1, 186-pound junior, who has shown abject program loyalty.

He's not Ted Williams by any means, but you can now also refer to him as "Teddy Ballgame."

Teddy Purcell waits his turn with Jedd Fisch and Will Rogers nearby. / Skylar Lin Visuals

Purcell is one of four Husky quarterbacks on the roster -- the only one without a scholarship -- and it is his job to do the dirty work in practice. He'll leave the others and go throw to the defense. He'll run the scout team offense. He'll come to practice each day knowing there's virtually no chance of him playing in the upcoming game.

Until Saturday night.

That's when he trotted onto the field, replaced freshman Demond Williams Jr., who had stepped in for senior starter Will Rogers, dipped down and brought the UW's 35-3 victory over Big Sky's Weber State to a merciful end.

Whereas the Huskies typically have three or more walk-on quarterbacks showing up for practice each season, Purcell is it this fall.

He's watched as players such as Jesse Martineau, Tyson Lang, Alex Johnson and Camdyn Stiegeler have come and gone as fellow walk-on QBs, unable to go any farther when the scrimmage snaps are practically nil and the only reward is getting all dressed in an unstained Husky uniform for the home games and watching.

Yet Purcell is a little different than the typical walk-on QB. He was so trustworthy, Kalen DeBoer's staff used to take him on road trips just in case.

When Purcell joined the Huskies in 2021, Dylan Morris was the starting quarterback, Patrick O'Brien his back-up, Sam Huard groomed as the signal-caller of the future in Montlake and then-option QB Camden Sirmon, another walk-on, had worked his his way onto the field for a solitary Apple Cup center snap though he played special teams, too.

Purcell wore No. 20 back then, not exactly a QB number, not that it mattered, before trading down for 17.

In 2022, he was well down the depth chart that had Michael Penix Jr., Morris and Huard ahead of him, with Sirmon wisely becoming a running back.

Teddy Purcell is in his fourth season as a UW walk-on quarterback. / Skylar Lin Visuals

A year ago, it was Penix, Morris, Austin Mack and William Haskell as the top-of-the-line UW quarterbacks, with Purcell putting in his time, still somewhat unfazed by his place in the pecking order.

Purcell seems to enjoy and understand his Husky support role, that his situation comes without the promise of playing time or Saturday glory. Yet he can say he made it between the lines, that against all walk-on odds he got to climb up on a big stage at Husky Stadium for a fleeting moment.

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