Inside The Huskies

Ex-Husky QB Haener Deals with Skin Cancer Diagnosis

The former Fresno State and UW signal-caller is in camp with the New Orleans Saints.

Dan Raley

Jake Haener, former Fresno State and UW quarterback, met with the press at the NFL Combine at Lucas Oil Stadium.
Jake Haener, former Fresno State and UW quarterback, met with the press at the NFL Combine at Lucas Oil Stadium. / Trevor Ruszkowski-USA TODAY Sports

It began as a small bump on his right cheek that kept growing. The odd-shaped blemish finally forced Jake Haener, the former Fresno State and Washington quarterback now seeking a roster spot with the NFL's New Orleans Saints, to seek medical attention.

The diagnosis was more than a little disconcerting for the 25-year old rookie: Haener was told it was a rare form of skin cancer, especially for someone his age.

“It’s something that just popped up," said Haener, who wore a small bandage on his right cheek at Saints training camp. "And I was kind of worried about it, my family was kind of worried about it. It was just this random odd-looking bump."

Haener met with a dermatologist, who conducted a biopsy. The results came back last week, on the eve of training camp. The verdict was concerning.

Haener said he was told the cancer was not life-threatening. He has a medical consultation scheduled next Thursday to determine next steps, which will he said include some sort of preventative procedure in August.

He's currently competing for the Saints' back-up job with Spencer Rattler, a fellow rookie from South Carolina who previously played at Oklahoma. Haener was New Orleans' fourth-round draft pick. Rattler the fifth-rounder.

A Danville, California, product, Haener spent two seasons at the UW. He redshirted in 2017, played in four games in 2018 and transferred to Fresno State once he lost the starting job to Jacob Eason in competition leading up to the 2019 season.

He resurrected his career with two solid seasons playing for Kalen DeBoer at Fresno State and nearly followed the coach back to the UW before finishing up with the Mountain West team. DeBoer spoke about Haener on the day he was introduced as the Husky coach, indicating the decision on where he played next would be the quarterback's alone.

The quarterback hopes to wait until his NFL team returns from its preseason training camp in Irvine, California, and completes the exhibition schedule before undergoing an unspecified procedure on his face. Still, he wants to be proactive.

"With these skin cancer things, if you wait, things spread," Haener said. "So I've just gotta get it taken care of."

For the latest UW football and basketball news, go to si.com/college/washington

Published |Modified
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.

Home/Husky Legends