Washington Huskies coach Jedd Fisch took to the podium in El Paso, Texas, for his final media availability before the Sun Bowl, and spent some of his time discussing his thoughts on the future of college football and the transfer portal.
“It’s very different, it’s very challenging…it’s very awkward and weird,” he said of balancing hosting portal players on visits and preparing for a bowl game. “You could have a practice going and a portal player visiting, and that portal player is looking at the player whose job he’s trying to take, and you have a guy on the practice field looking out there and see a guy watching.”
Managing that has proven to be tough for plenty of schools around the country, including Washington, which has seen 13 scholarship players depart while preparing to face off with the Louisville Cardinals. Among those players is left guard Gaard Memmelaar, who signed with Central Florida for his final season.
Memmelaar started 11 games and played in all 12 for the Huskies during their first season in the Big Ten, but will not play in the Sun Bowl, leaving Ohio State transfer Enokk Vimahi to start in his place.
Vimahi began the season as Washington’s right guard but was overtaken by sophomore Landen Hatchett and thrust into a rotational role with Memmelaar due to a few minor injuries to both of them.
Vimahi is expected to be flanked by junior college transfer Maximus McCree at left tackle, who hasn’t played since he suffered a dislocated thumb in Washington’s 40-16 loss to Iowa. In front of quarterback Demond Williams Jr., the pair will have to help the Husky front rebound after the freshman quarterback was sacked 10 times in their last game, a loss to the Oregon Ducks.