Cal Poly Transfer Josh Cuevas Has Been a Big Hit for Huskies

If this were pro baseball, Josh Cuevas was acquired by the University of Washington in what was a straight-up offseason deal for Sam Huard.

A hitter for a pitcher.

Instead, this was very much college football and Cuevas, a 6-foot-3, 236-pound tight end formerly of  Cal Poly, simply passed the one-time Husky golden boy quarterback in the transfer portal hallway as they headed to each other's previous teams.

Everyone knows what the Big Sky team got out of this deal — a former 5-star recruit, UW legacy player and left-hander looking for a place to play a lot — but not quite so sure about Cuevas.

Let Husky offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb break it down. Back to baseball parlance, he now has a guy who can make solid contact.

"He had two crushing blocks," Grubb said, referring to Cuevas in UW scrimmage play on Wednesday. "He absolutely smashed two D-ends in a row, on back-to-back plays. He showed he's not just a pass-catcher, which is something we're really excited about — because I think he's a super athlete."

Arriving for UW spring football practice, Cuevas brought the following known credentials from his redshirt freshman season at Cal Poly: 57 receptions for 622 yards and 6 touchdowns.

He was so productive for an unproductive 2-9 team, people began telling Cuevas at midseason that he should consider moving up a level.

His Cal Poly coach Beau Baldwin, the former Central Washington and Eastern Washington head man, left to become Arizona State's offensive coordinator and Cuevas could have followed him. 

Instead, he went to dinner with UW tight-ends coach Nick Sheridan and running-backs coach Lee Marks, having earlier met Marks during his high-school recruitment, and they mapped out what the possibilities for him could be in Montlake.

Josh Cuevas, not to be confused with Jose Cuervos, joins a position group that includes seniors Devin Culp and Jack Westover, both of whom have been starters; junior Quinton Moore, the son of a former Seahawks defensive back, and redshirt freshman Ryan Otton, the younger brother of Cade Otton, the former Husky tight end now with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

"Washington was giving an opportunity to me where it would make me a more well-rounded tight end, and that's what I wanted," said Cuevas, who has three seasons of eligibility remaining. "It's just going to help me get to the next step to the NFL."

Cuevas for Huard is a football tradeoff that looks good on paper. Now it's time to see which player best takes advantage of his new surroundings. For certain, one guy can hit.

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