Washington LB, former five-star prospect Sav’ell Smalls enters transfer portal

This is not how Washington fans likely envisioned the career of the former five-star prospect to go.

Washington defensive Save’ll Smalls, a former five-star prospect in the 2020 recruiting cycle and a native of Burien, Washington will be moving on from the Huskies program. Smalls announced his intentions to enter the transfer portal on Monday evening via his Twitter account.

“To start I’d like to thank my family for the continuous love and support ya’ll give me. Through thick and thin I’ll always love ya’ll,” he said in his statement.

“To both coaching staffs I played under, I appreciate you for pouring into me daily, and showing me what excellence looks like.

To all the unseen people that are imperative to the day-to-day operations of the program, I thank you. From the strength staff to the athletic trainers to the janitors, caterers, teachers, and academic support staff, please know all your hard work is seen and acknowledged. I appreciate you.

To my brothers. Once we go to war together we are bonded by blood and sweat. If you’ve been in that locker room with me, you know how I’m rocking. It’s love with Sav for life.

I appreciate the University of Washington for everything.

With that being said, I’ll be entering the transfer portal with two years of eligibility remaining. The dream is still the dream. Wherever I land you, gon get everything out of me. Believe that.”

The former composite five-star prospect was ranked as the 15th-best player in the country according to ESPN’s 2020 recruiting rankings. He chose the hometown Huskies over offers from the who’s who of college football including Alabama, Clemson, Georgia, Ohio State, Oregon, and USC.

Over three seasons with the Huskies, Smalls played linebacker but never put it all together as expected. He totaled just 32 total tackles and just one tackle for a loss as well as recording one fumble recovery.

He is the 15th player to leave the Huskies program since the beginning of December. The Huskies are currently entering their second year under head coach Kalen DeBoer who led the team to an 11-2 (7-2 Pac-12) record in his first season.