Defensive tackle Bryce Butler departs Washington Huskies for transfer portal

Washington defensive lineman Bryce Butler celebrates a 15-yard sack against UCLA, Nov. 22, 2025, at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, Calif. (Dean Rutz / The Seattle Times)

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By Andy Yamashita Seattle Times staff reporter

Washington’s defensive line was already slated to lose some production entering 2026. 

Edge rushers Zach Durfee and Deshawn Lynch, along with defensive tackles Ta’ita’i Uiagalelei, Simote Pepa and Logan Sagapolu all exhausted their eligibility in 2025. Defensive tackle Anterio Thompson, who may have been eligible for another year because of one season spent at the junior-college level, said he expected to end his collegiate career after the LA Bowl in a post on his social media accounts on Nov. 23. 

Now, junior defensive tackle Bryce Butler will add his name to the list of departing defensive linemen. 

Butler, a 6-foot-5, 320-pound defensive tackle from Toronto, intends to enter the transfer portal when it opens Jan. 2, he told The Seattle Times. Butler is the sixth Husky to head to the transfer portal, and perhaps the most impactful exit. He has one season of eligibility remaining, though he also may have had some extra junior college years. 

“I’ll always have love for the UW fan base and community,” Butler told The Times. 

During his second season at UW, Butler emerged as an important piece of Washington’s interior defensive line rotation. He made 19 tackles including 2.5 for a loss and recovered a fumble in 12 games and one start this season, but did not appear in the LA Bowl. His two sacks were tied for third on the team, trailing only Durfee and junior edge rusher Jacob Lane, who each had four.  

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Butler’s emergence was an important part of UW’s improved defensive front. He played 305 defensive snaps in 2025, third among interior linemen behind Uiagalelei, sophomore Elinneus Davis and Thompson, according to Pro Football Focus. Butler registered 14 pressures including nine hurries and three quarterback hits and missed just two tackles. 

His 9.5% missed-tackle rate trailed only Thompson and Davis among players who played at least 135 snaps. Butler also made 13 stops, or tackles that constituted an offensive failure, according to PFF. 

Butler helped UW’s defensive line solve its issues against the run. In 2024, the Huskies allowed opponents to rush for 161.8 yards per game under former defensive coordinator Steve Belichick. A year later under new coordinator Ryan Walters, they gave up just 100.2 yards rushing per game while holding six opponents below 100 yards rushing. 

And UW didn’t have Butler for a majority of 2024. Butler initially committed to coach Jedd Fisch and defensive line coach Jason Kaufusi at Arizona after two seasons at Garden City Community College and signed with the Wildcats in December, 2023. He never made it to Tucson, Ariz., though, following the coaches to Washington. However, Butler played just three games during his first season with the Huskies and ended up redshirting. 

Butler’s exit leaves UW with some gaping holes in its defensive line. Davis, who played 424 defensive snaps in 2025, will return as the most experienced interior defensive lineman on Washington’s roster. Davis has 43 career tackles in 25 games played. 

Twins Armon Parker and Jayvon Parker still have eligibility remaining, but have been plagued by a relentless string of injuries since arriving at UW before the 2022 season. Armon Parker made his long-awaited UW debut in 2025, playing in eight games and registering eight tackles and a sack before suffering another season-ending anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury. 

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Jayvon Parker sustained a season-ending Achilles tendon injury on Sept. 27, 2024, and appeared just once in 2025, lining up briefly with his brother against Michigan, near their hometown of Detroit. He has 19 tackles, 2.5 tackles for a loss and 1.5 sacks in 26 career games. 

The rest of the interior defensive linemen still on UW’s roster remains unproven. Redshirt freshman Omar Khan, a former Kalen DeBoer recruit, has appeared once — against FCS UC Davis in 2025 — during two seasons at Washington. Caleb Smith and Dominic Macon, a former state wrestling champion from Oregon, did not play as true freshmen this season. 

Washington will add several freshmen in 2026. Local prospects David Schwerzel, from O’Dea High, and Ta’a Malu, out of Annie Wright Schools in Tacoma, signed with UW on Dec. 3. The Huskies also added highly touted defensive tackle Tufanua Ionatana Umu-Cais from Denver powerhouse Cherry Creek High.

The highest-rated player of the bunch, however, is JD Hill. A 247Sports composite four-star prospect whose massive senior season at Mission Viejo High in Southern California launched him up recruiting boards late in the cycle, Hill tallied consecutive 90-tackle, double-figure sack seasons at Mission Viejo. Fisch said Hill can play either defensive tackle or edge rusher on Dec. 3. 

“I would anticipate he’ll start outside, just because that’s, coming in, his natural wheelhouse,” Walters said about Hill Dec. 9. “But you never know with defensive linemen. You get them in the building, now they’re in a strength and conditioning program. A nutrition program. And usually the pounds start packing on. So you just don’t know how they grow until you get them here.”

Washington will almost certainly look for help in the transfer portal after successfully adding Thompson and Uiagalelei a year ago following Butler’s exit, too.

Andy Yamashita: ayamashita@seattletimes .com. Andy Yamashita is a sports reporter at The Seattle Times, primarily covering Washington Huskies football.