Husky Roster Review: Kuykendall Won By Leaving Winless Northern Colorado

This is one in a series of articles -- going from 0 to 99 on the Husky roster -- examining what each scholarship player and leading walk-on did this past spring and what to expect from them going forward.

A year ago, Kuykendall joined the UW following spring ball to add quarterback depth, as a scholarship replacement for Dermaricus Davis, who transferred to UCLA and recently announced he would next join Hawaii.

"Shea was a guy who'd played college football," offensive coordinator Jimmie Dougherty said in 2024. "We knew about him in high school. We knew about him in talking to different people, high school coaches, and things like that. We wanted to make sure we were bringing in the right kind of player."

At Northern Colorado, Kuykendall redshirted while his team went 3-8 in 2022. The following season, he stood and watched his Big Sky team lose badly to Abilene Christian, Incarnate Word, Washington State and Idaho State to open the season.

He was still on the sideline when the Bears dropped closer games to Sacramento State and a pair of future Huskies in safety Cam Broussard and edge rusher Deshawn Lynch, and then to Cal Poly and ex-Husky QB Sam Huard, who had a 31-for-39, 333-yard and 2 TD outing against them.

The change came following a 40-0 loss at Montana. Sirmon, a tall and not very mobile player in the pocket, just couldn't make anything happen, getting sacked 18 times.

Kuykendall earned his shot against Idaho, Northern Arizona and future UW safety Alex McLaughlin, and Portland State and now former Husky center D'Angalo Titialii, often running for his life and building that character.

Last season, he was the No. 3 UW quarterback throughout, backing up original starter Will Rogers and season-ending starter in Williams. He never played in a game.

Interestingly, Kuykendall didn't run to the transfer portal this offseason, choosing instead to stay and compete in Montlake. He had his spring moment in the first practice, throwing 15- and 25-yard touchdowns passes to Penn State transfer Omari Evans near the end of it.

"He's very smart," Dougherty said. "He's been able to pick up the playbook very quickly. The guys like him."

SHEA KUYKENDALL FILE

What he's done: Kuykendall, in his three-start Northern Colorado opportunity, completed 52 of 81 passes for 454 yards and 2 scores, with a pair of interceptions. In his last appearance against Portland State, he was good on 17 of 23 attempts for a career-best 222 yards -- and he didn't get sacked that day.

Starter or not: Realistically, Kuykendall faces long odds to start at the UW and even play on game day, but he's willing to stay in the program for now and see where it takes him. He has two years of eligibility left. It should be noted that Northern Colorado has won just one of its past 23 games, beating Weber State 21-17 at midseason last fall, and has seven consecutive losing seasons.

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