By Mike Vorel
Seattle Times staff reporter
Jake Haener was once a Washington Husky.
Now, it looks like he won’t be again.
The 6-foot-1, 195-pound quarterback has withdrawn from the transfer portal and will return to Fresno State, according to a report by 247Sports. Haener did not respond to an interview request on Wednesday evening.
There were multiple reports last week that Haener would follow head coach Kalen DeBoer and offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach Ryan Grubb to Washington, where he signed in 2017 and transferred away from two years later. But Haener told The Times in a text last week that “I haven’t committed anywhere yet. So you can squash all the speculation from all those people as of now.”
Consider the speculation sufficiently squashed. Haener is close with new (and old) Fresno State head coach Jeff Tedford, according to the 247Sports report, and there may have been eligibility concerns related to a UW transfer as well. Because Haener has already transferred once, he would have needed a waiver to be immediately eligible at Washington.
Regardless, the Huskies are missing out on a player who significantly improved after leaving Seattle. In two seasons and 18 games at Fresno State, Haener completed 66.5% of his passes and threw for 5,831 yards with 52 total touchdowns and 14 interceptions.
In the wake of sixth-year senior Patrick O’Brien’s departure and 2022 three-star quarterback Jackson Stratton’s de-commitment on Tuesday, the Huskies are left with just two scholarship quarterbacks on their existing roster: redshirt sophomore Dylan Morris and redshirt freshman Sam Huard.
In 11 starts last fall, Morris completed 60.6% of his passes and threw for 2,458 yards with 17 total touchdowns and 12 interceptions. Huard played in four games and lost his lone start against Washington State, completing 22 of 42 passes (52.4%) for 241 yards with one touchdown and four interceptions.
Indiana’s Michael Penix Jr. — who thrived with DeBoer as his offensive coordinator in 2019 — entered the transfer portal last week as well.
Expect DeBoer and Co. to explore both the transfer portal and the remaining high school ranks to fill out his quarterback room.
Just don’t hold out hope for a Haener homecoming, after all.
Comments
Or he could just develop Sammy
@Tippman
So…
It has only been like a week, but still.