Demond Williams leaning toward return to Washington after transfer portal drama

Jan 9, 2026 - 01:00

Demond Williams announced earlier in the week that he was planning on entering the transfer portal with the 2025-26 campaign over. However, the Washington Huskies football program fought back at that decision, claiming they were going to take legal action to enforce a $4.5 million contract Williams had previously signed.

With the drama unfolding, new reports indicate that the sophomore quarterback is now leaning towards returning to Washington, according to Pete Thamel of ESPN. Thamel explained that during the “College GameDay” broadcast was fired by his agent, and that he hired a lawyer to help him formulate all of his options moving forward. But it sounds like a return to the Huskies is a real possibility for Williams.

“I’ve been told by sources within the last 15 minutes that Washington quarterback Demond Williams is leaning toward returning to the Huskies,” said Thamel. “He had obviously announced 48 hours ago he intended to enter the NCAA transfer portal. LSU was his likely destination. Today’s been a busy day for Demond Williams. His agent fired him, he picked up a lawyer, a prominent attorney, Darren Heitner, who works a lot of these eligibility cases.

“I’ve been told that Demond Williams spent most of today discussing his options. If he was to leave and transfer, he was gonna face legal action from Washington. Sources there have made it clear to me, they were gonna enforce the $4.5 million contract he had just signed four days before announcing he was going to go into the portal. It’s not done… I’ve been told the decision is imminent but not final.”

Here’s our @CollegeGameDay hit that includes UW QB Demond Williams leaning to returning to Washington. Decision is imminent. pic.twitter.com/sSYZG9iwmH
— Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) January 9, 2026