Caple: UW Huskies’ 5 most important returners in 2025

Transfers get a lot of attention in college football, and rightfully so. But the very best teams tend to rely more on returning players who have already established themselves as key contributors for their current program.

Report: Penn State wide receiver transfers to UW Huskies

Between high-school recruits and incoming transfers, the UW Huskies will eventually add more than 40 players to their roster for the 2025 season. They also return several others who have already shown star potential in Seattle.

Here are UW’s five most important returners for 2025.

QB Demond Williams Jr.

There is value in entering any season already knowing who your starting quarterback is going to be, but the Huskies are particularly excited about the dynamic Williams — especially after he threw for 374 yards and four touchdowns (and rushed for another) in a narrow Sun Bowl loss to Louisville. Williams appeared in every UW game as a true freshman and started the final two. Coach Jedd Fisch raves about him, and Williams might be the Huskies’ most viable dual-threat quarterback since Jake Locker.

RB Jonah Coleman

After rushing for 1,053 yards and 10 touchdowns as a junior, Coleman decided to return to Washington for his senior season. A third-team All-Big Ten pick in 2024, Coleman now has a chance to establish himself as one of the nation’s top running backs — and should be part of a potent backfield duo with Williams at quarterback.

WR Denzel Boston

With Giles Jackson and Jeremiah Hunter both moving on, Boston, who will be a fourth-year junior, returns as the Huskies’ most important receiver. He caught 63 passes for 834 yards and a team-best nine touchdowns in 2024, using his 6-foot-4 frame to stretch the field and pull in contested catches. The next step for him will be doing more damage after the catch, but he’s pretty clearly going to be Williams’ No. 1 target.

OL Landen Hatchett

A torn ACL in December 2023 made for a tough offseason, but the sophomore from Ferndale still recovered well enough to play in every game. Hatchett mostly played guard, but he did start the Sun Bowl at center, and Fisch has made clear that he sees Hatchett as the team’s starting center in 2025. UW added Hatchett’s older brother, Geirean, as a transfer, and also added Kansas State tackle Carver Willis, so the O-line will look quite a bit different than it did in 2024 — but Landen Hatchett will be one constant. Once fully healthy, the former four-star recruit should be a nice O-line anchor.

EDGE Zach Durfee

If this list seems offense-heavy, well, it is. That’s because UW’s defense has experienced quite a bit of turnover, with six starters graduating and another two transferring out. Nine of their top 10 players from last season, in terms of total snaps, will not be with the team in 2025. As such, the Huskies have welcomed several incoming transfers who should take over starting jobs. One returning player who could still make a big impact is Durfee, who began last season as a starting edge rusher and made the first 2.5 sacks of his FBS career before toe injuries limited him to only six games. Fisch talks about Durfee as if he expects him to be a difference-maker. If Durfee can get fully healthy, he could help upgrade a pass rush that managed only 20 sacks in 13 games last season.

This column from UW Huskies football insider Christian Caple is exclusive to Seattle Sports. Subscribe to OnMontlake.com for full access to Caple’s in-depth Husky coverage.

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