When standout freshman linebacker Khmori House announced his decision to enter the transfer portal on Monday night, it caught Washington Huskies fans off guard. But in the new world of college football, coach Jedd Fisch didn’t share that sentiment.
“In the world of college football we’re living in, there are no decisions that catch you off guard,” Fisch said of House’s departure. “Everybody has to make decisions that they choose are best for them. Unfortunately, that’s what we’ve created. We’ve created a bad calendar. There are a lot of great things about college football. One of the things that’s a problem is the calendar. We have to find a way to allow guys to finish what they start, and then move on at the right time. I still think the portal should be in April.”
Unlike his entrance in January, when Fisch and his coaching staff were able to retain his services, it doesn’t appear that the Huskies are expecting the former three-star recruit from St. John Bosco to return to Montlake.
“Definitely wishing him the best,” he continued. “There will be others. We understand that in order for us to build our team the way we want to, with the championship culture that we have, there’s going to be a lot of influx over this year and these two portal windows.”
House is largely expected to follow defensive coordinator Steve Belichick, who is projected to take the same position on his father Bill Belichick’s coaching staff at North Carolina. He added that he doesn’t expect any of the team’s 10 other scholarship players in the portal to return either.
“I think each individual instance will be handled that way, but we’ve got to continue to build our team,” he said said. “As players go into the portal, we’ve got an influx of players that want to come to Washington. Right now, we’ve signed 28 players. We’ve got a lot of players that want to come here. We only have 85 scholarships to give out. We’re over that. So we’re going to get it to 85, but we expect a lot of continued rotations of people going in the portal, and people signing with our team. So I’d be surprised that there would be many guys that go in the portal and then return.”