Inside The Huskies

One-Time Husky QB Commit Stratton to Walk On at Iowa

The Southern California signal-caller was all set to sign with Jimmy Lake's staff.

Dan Raley

Former Colorado State QB and one-time UW commit Jackson Stratton throws a pass during a 2023 scrimmage.
Former Colorado State QB and one-time UW commit Jackson Stratton throws a pass during a 2023 scrimmage. / Lucas Boland/The Coloradoan / USA TODAY

Jackson Stratton was going to be the next University of Washington quarterback who followed Sam Huard into the program, maybe compete with him for the job one day and become Jimmy Lake's primary pick-up at that crucial position.

The 6-foot-5, 210-pound Stratton from Mission Bay, California, committed right away to the Huskies and was all set to sign with them in December when Lake got fired during the season in 2021 and turned this kid's recruitment upside down.

Stratton, who actually did a video interview with this Sports Illustrated website to discuss his UW pledge, had to find another school in a hurry when Kalen DeBoer's staff came to Montlake and decided this Southern California quarterback wasn't going to be a good fit for the offense they would install.

Over the weekend, however, Stratton revealed on social media he will join Iowa as a walk-on quarterback this fall after spending two seasons on scholarship at Colorado State. He's another example of the transient nature of college football and how players will go to great lengths to find their rightful place in the college game.

For the Mountain West school, Stratton played in four outings as a true freshman in 2022 and completed 4 of 17 passes for 78 yards and a touchdown, with two interceptions. Last season, he didn't appear in any Rams games and entered the transfer portal.

Lake's staff initially saw a tall pocket passer in Stratton, who completed 312 of 515 passes for 4,469 yards and 52 touchdowns with 19 interceptions, in his La Jolla High School career.

The Huskies play Iowa in Iowa City on Oct. 12 this coming season.

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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