In this world of subtle social-media clues and codes, former California wide receiver Jeremiah Hunter on Tuesday appears to have signaled he will be playing for the University of Washington football team next season as planned.
Earlier in the week, online sleuths noted how Hunter had restored a Husky commitment post to his Instagram account and next shared an image of himself in full-purple regalia.
If everything keeps moving in this direction, new Husky quarterback Will Rogers, the Mississippi State transfer and Michael Penix Jr. replacement, will have a veteran receiver added to his cast of mostly younger and untested pass-catchers. Signing day is next Wednesday.
For more than a month now, the 6-foot-2, 200-pound Hunter from Fresno, California, has stayed relatively quiet as the Huskies went through a coaching change, hiring Jedd Fisch to replace Kalen DeBoer, who bolted for Alabama.
For exactly 32 days, Hunter, who caught 63 passes for 750 yards and 7 touchdowns as a junior for Cal, said nothing. He made no mention of asking out of his commitment, no indication he might be still coming either.
In Rogers, he has a 12,315-yard career passer, which seems made to order for someone like Hunter who's trying to make NFL scouts notice him more without any prodding. Providing they can get a line to block for them, hese two players should be able to help each other increase their draft stock in Fisch's pro-style offense.
At Cal, Hunter often was hurt by that team's inability to get him the ball at times as it rotated through various quarterbacks.
If the Huskies were to play this Saturday, and Hunter was on board, he likely would start alongside sixth-year senior Giles Jackson and sophomore Denzel Boston, with redshirt freshmen Keith Reynolds and Rashid Williams in the competitive mix.
Hunter will bring 143 career catches with 2,056 yards and 13 touchdowns to Montlake, which includes a scoring catch in Husky Stadium last season. He started 23 of 33 games for the Bears.
The 5-foot-9, 178-pound Jackson, the next most experienced UW receiver after a two-year stop at Michigan, has career receptions of 74 for 825 yards and 4 scores. For the Huskies and Wolverines, he's started 15 of 50 games.
Boston, with his enticing 6-foot-4, 207-pound frame for a receiver, has 7 catches for 66 yards while appearing in 18 games, 14 last season, all as a sub.
The Huskies have a pair of incoming freshmen from Southern California in 5-foot-10, 160-pound Jason Robinson from San Juan Capistrano and 6-foot-4, 195-pound Justice Williams from Westlake Village, with Robinson possibly on campus as an early enrollee.
Also, the UW returns a pair of redshirt freshmen receivers in 5-foot-9, 177-pound Keith Reynolds and 6-foot-1, 185-pound Rashid Williams, who each got a taste in 2023, appearing in two games and one game, respectively.
Both played against Cal and Jeremiah Hunter — with Williams catching 2 passes for 30 yards in that September game.
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