Washington coach Jedd Fisch downplays fallout over QB Demond Williams Jr.'s return to Huskies

SEATTLE (AP) — Washington coach Jedd Fisch defended Demond Williams Jr. on Wednesday and downplayed concerns about any fallout from the quarterback's decision to return to the school.

Williams originally announced last week that he was entering the transfer portal, then changed his mind two days later and said he would be back with the Huskies.

According to multiple reports, Washington was prepared to pursue legal options to enforce Williams’ lucrative name, image and likeness contract. Williams’ NIL deal exceeded $4 million, according to ESPN, and his potential departure raised questions about the validity of such contracts.

“The situation was in limbo for 48 hours,” Fisch told reporters in Seattle in his first public comments since Williams' decision. “It wasn’t in limbo for weeks or months. It wasn’t a situation where we were waiting for a mandatory veteran minicamp for a player to arrive.”

Williams announced via social media on Jan. 6 that he would leave the Huskies after his sophomore season, saying, “I have to do what is best for me and my future.”

The decision was met with chagrin from Washington fans and came the same day the school held a celebration of life for Mia Hamant, a goalkeeper for the women’s soccer team who died following a bout with kidney cancer.

Fisch said there are plans for the quarterback to speak with the soccer team this week. Williams has already publicly apologized.

“Over the past week, we’ve certainly found ourselves in the epicenter of college football,” Fisch said in his opening statement. “While there have been many questions, and I’m sure many of you have many questions, I want to start with this: There was no intention to distract from Mia Hamant’s celebration of life.”

Fisch is hopeful Washington fans will forgive Williams in time, adding that it is a “win” to get him back in addition to retaining 60 other players from the Huskies’ roster that produced a 9-4 record last season, capped by a 38-10 win over Boise State in the LA Bowl.

Still, the way Williams’ near departure publicly unfolded raised questions about the messiness of the transfer portal era and the pursuit of NIL money. Fisch offered little by way of solutions in the immediate future, but compared what Williams and Washington underwent to an NFL player sitting out summer workouts.

“I do believe that if we all look at it in the same way of what goes on currently in the NFL, there’s players that talk about contracts,” Fisch said. “There’s players that miss a weekend. There’s players that have held out after they signed, and then shown up three days later for a minicamp. Those guys still get rooted for.”

Fisch acknowledged a need to repair any broken relationships and continue to move the program forward. The Huskies increased their win total by three games from Fisch’s first season (6-7) to his second.

“It’s going to get harder and harder to make bigger jumps, especially when we see what’s going on in this landscape,” Fisch said. “This landscape is insane.”

Fisch, Williams and all involved with Washington’ s football team experienced that firsthand last week. It resulted in Williams putting out public statements and speaking privately with his teammates, according to Fisch.

And now Williams finds himself right where he ended his 2025 season, one in which he completed 69.5% of his passes for 3,065 yards with 25 touchdown passes.

“We really believe that we’re in a great place, and we’re going to get this better and better and better,” Fisch said. “And I tell our team all the time, I see better than I hear. So, the most important thing we can do is build back any trust through our actions, not our words.”

Walters returning

Fisch said that Washington “re-signed” defensive coordinator Ryan Walters, who is fresh off his first season with the Huskies. Walters spent the previous two seasons as Purdue’s head coach, and was reportedly entering the second season of a two-year contract with Washington.

Rest for Rashawn

Safety Rashawn Clark, who is coming off a fine freshman season in which he had 21 tackles and two interceptions, will miss spring practices after a postseason shoulder injury, according to Fisch. Clark appeared in the bowl game and had one of his two interceptions, as well as two tackles.

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