The Huskies quarterback that just left just came back

Huskies star quarterback Demond Williams Jr. made a surprise announcement last week that he would enter the transfer portal, leaving the University of Washington despite signing a contract just days earlier. UW threatened to sue to enforce the contract with Williams. The day after that announcement, sportswriter Danny O’Neil, author of The Dang Apostrophe Substack newsletter, said, “I don’t think anyone expects the resolution here is Demond Williams plays for the Huskies in 2026.”

The next day, Williams said he would return to the Huskies. O'Neil talks about how he’s been shocked twice in one week by this ongoing saga.

This interview has been edited for clarity.

Kim Malcolm: We asked how shocked you were when Williams entered the transfer portal. Now, how shocked are you that he says he's coming back?

Danny O’Neil: I am just as surprised as before. I did not expect or foresee a potential resolution being that he returns. I am happy to say that I'm delighted to be wrong. It's certainly not the first time I've been wrong. Usually, I feel a little bit of regret. In this case, it's just excitement. I'm really pleased that he's staying.

But the reason why you probably didn't anticipate this is because of the power that players have here in this environment. So what did Williams run into to have him change his mind?

Yeah, we're not sure entirely. Some of it certainly was the reaction, I would guess, that people had locally. There's also the uncertainty right now, because there's very little structure in college football and Washington cannot keep him from transferring to another school or playing football somewhere else, but because of the way the economics work, and as you indicated, the school had said it was going to sue. Any financial penalty he might face is very much up in the air, even if it's written into a contract. Nobody knows how the litigation would play out, and I certainly believe that some of the decision to return is that he didn't want to face that uncertainty of, "Hey, I might end up making significantly less money than I would if I just stayed and played on the deal that I'd already negotiated with."

Huskies head coach Jedd Fisch has said that he supports Williams and he will work with him to rebuild trust with Huskies fans. How difficult a job do you think that's going to be?

I'm a UW alum. I'm a Huskies fan. For me, that job is not very difficult. I see a young man who's 19 years old, who probably was facing an enormous amount of pressure, both from the infrastructure of the team he plays for, and obviously had a lot of people pulling him and wanting him to leave. And I can see a 19-year-old kind of making an awkward or clumsy series of decisions that led to him announcing he was going to transfer. So I feel that any apology really relates to his teammates and also to the athletic department. There was a memorial for the goalie, Mia Hamant, that was taking place when he posted on his Instagram account that he intended to transfer. Demond did address that in his statement yesterday. Now, if someone asked me, "What should he do?" I think that gets into a much different question about the relationship between college football fans and their teams in this era, where players are now being paid. For a long time, my answer would have been, "They're amateur athletes. They should always be cheered. No one should ever boo them." It's a little different now, and given that the University of Washington football program fundraises and asks for donations that help fund the money that is then channeled to these players, I think that question of does he owe, or should he provide fans with an explanation of what happened or address it more than he already has... I don't personally believe that way, but I could also see how some people might really want to hear that right now.

Let's talk about the football side of this. It appears he's staying. What do you think their prospects are next fall, if he can rebuild those relationships on the team.

I think it's the best resolution for their football team next year. I think they're positioned to be a very good team. I absolutely think the possibility is there. I don't want to say expect them to make it, but they should contend and be a team that could win a conference championship in the Big Ten.

Listen to the interview by clicking the play button above.