UW Player Shakeup Continues After Coach Heads to Alabama

Incoming UW Coach Jeff Firsch (hired away from the U of Arizona) will have a lot of restructuring to do following the departure of Kalen DeBoer to Alabama.

Coaching shake-up leaves Huskies with a lot of defections

As UW prepares to join the Big 10 Conference for 2024-25, the Huskies' new coach has his work cut out for him. Coach Firsch is a very good, if unknown, quantity. He had a 15-21 record with the Wildcats over three seasons, but he took over an awful program. After going 1-11 his first year, he went 5-7 in the second, and in 2023, 9-3--the single biggest turnaround in school history and a bowl berth.

Arizona was 7 or 8 points away from being 11-1 with single-digit losses to some top 20 SEC schools.

 According to KING-5 TV, here's a look at the shakeup caused by the departure of Coach DeBoer to Alabama. the following players entered the transfer portal:

• • "Tre Watson, TE, senior (signed with Texas A&M)
  • Taeshaun Lyons, WR, sophomore (signed with Utah)
  • Dylan Morris, QB, redshirt senior (signed with James Madison)
  • Jaivion Green, CB, junior (signed with Stanford)
  • Austin Harnetiaux, LB, sophomore
  • Austin Mack, QB, redshirt-freshman
  • Nate Kalepo, OG, redshirt-senior
  • Dyson McCutcheon, DB, redshirt junior
  • Asa Turner, S, senior
  • Will Rogers, QB, senior
  • Ethan Barr, LB, senior
  • Jabbar Muhammad, Sr., cornerback
  • Mishael Powell, S, redshirt senior
  • William Haskell, QB, redshirt junior
  • Jakson Bermon, S, redshirt sophomore
  • Griffin Waiss, TE, redshirt-junior"

Not all of them were projected as starters, but the Huskies lost a lot of depth. And, four highly-regarded high school recruits have de-committed, or rescinded, their plans to play at UW.  De-committing is nothing new, 15-20, even 30 years ago, you would see players withdraw their commitment to a school, but almost always it was only because the head coach who recruited them was fired.

The players who de-committed were:

• "Noah Carter, DE, Centennial HS, Peoria, Ariz.
• Dominic Kirks, DT, Riverside HS, Painesville, Ohio
• Zaydrius Rainey-Sale, LB, Bethel HS
• Keona Wilhite, DE, Salpointe Catholic, Ariz."

And finally, UW is going to be facing large shoes to fill because record-setting QB Michael Penix is expected to declare for the draft, and their top 3 receivers Jalen McMillan, Rome Odunze, and Jai'Lynn Polk as well as running back Dillon Johnson have already officially declared for the NFL draft in April.