The Huskies have eight players who crossed enemy lines to join them.
The majority of these former opponents traveled with Jedd Fisch from Arizona.
College football fosters player movement like never before, with players packing up and switching teams after failing to beat them, and the University of Washington is no exception to this strange dynamic.
When the Huskies begin spring football practice on Wednesday, they will have seven players who have drawn game snaps against them in previous seasons, three of whom have scored touchdowns against the UW, as well as one who saw his team lose but did not play.
If this were a Julia Roberts and Patrick Bergin film sequel, it would be titled “Reaping with the Enemy.”
The list of transferable players includes running backs Jonah Coleman and Daniyel Ngata, wide receiver Jeremiah Hunter, edge rushers Isaiah Ward and Russell Davis II, cornerbacks Ephesians Prysock and Darren Barkins, and linebacker Anthony Ward.
Hunter lined up for California in two visits to Husky Stadium, where he caught six catches for 77 yards in a 31-24 overtime loss to the Bears in 2021. He followed that up last season with five receptions for 85 yards and a seven-yard scoring catch in a 59-32 loss in Montlake. He sat out the 2022 game in Berkeley, California, due to an injury.
“It was really the offense and how productive the receivers were and I felt could shine with that offensive mind,” Hunter said of the Huskies, even with the coaching change from Kalen DeBoer to Jedd Fisch. “Last year you saw the energy they had and the type of vibe they had, especially at the end of the season, and I could see myself here.”
For Arizona State, Ngata pulled duty in two games against the UW, twice taking handoffs from Jayden Daniels, an eventual Heisman Trophy winner, for 10 yards rushing in the Sun Devils’ 35-30 victory at Husky Stadium in 2021 and following up with 4 carries for 39 yards, including 25 on one run, and a late 1-yard score in ASU’s 45-38 win in Tempe.
Coleman leads a group of five players who followed Fisch from Arizona to the University of Washington. In 2022, he rushed 14 times for 53 yards and a 3-yard touchdown run in the Wildcats’ 49-39 loss at Husky Stadium, while last year he carried the ball 12 times for 44 yards in his team’s 31-24 loss in Tucson.
Coleman’s defensive-minded colleagues racked up six tackles, Isaiah Ward added one, while Davis and Anthony Ward played but did not record a tackle in last year’s game in the desert. Davis appeared in the 2022 game but did not record a tackle.
An eighth player, cornerback Darren Barkins, joined the Huskies from Oregon last season but never played. a. game against the UW in his two seasons in Eugene.
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