On Dec. 5, Ty Jones stuck out his right hand and snared a looping football for a 42-yard gain in a 31-26 home loss to Stanford. In the next drive, he followed that up with an almost equally impressive 37-yard reception.
They were the last two catches of his UW career.
On Wednesday, the 6-foot-4, 200-pound redshirt junior wide receiver announced his plans to make a graduate transfer.
“I can’t thank you all enough for taking a kid from Provo, Utah in as one of your own and embracing me,” Jones wrote in a post on Twitter. “While being here, I’ve grown so much as a player and more importantly as a man. I have nothing but respect for the UW Football program, husky nation, and the city of Seattle. I’ve developed relationships here with teammates, mentors and friends that I will cherish and nurture forever. …
“With that being said, I’ve decided to graduate and enter the transfer portal with my remaining eligibility. This definitely won’t be the last time I’m in Seattle but for now this is the right decision for me. Thanks again Husky Nation!”
Jones, who has two seasons of eligibility remaining, made 44 catches for 702 yards and six touchdowns over 32 career games at UW. He led the Huskies with six receiving scores in 2018 but appeared in just four games and did not register a reception the following season while battling a wrist/hand injury. The former four-star recruit added six catches for 140 yards in four games last fall.
A former Provo High School standout, Jones was also involved in the player group that presented a list of demands to Pac-12 leadership last summer surrounding health and safety protections; the fight against racial injustice; the preservation of all existing Pac-12 sports; extended health care; name, image and likeness rights; and revenue sharing within the conference.
He said in a statement at the time that “it is imperative to ensure my teammates and fellow student athletes a safe environment to play in. This is also important to me because this will make future student athletes’ lives easier. Student athletes’ lives shouldn’t be put at risk in order to prevent further financial backlash — especially when receiving insufficient compensation.”
Jones participated in all games and practices even while involved in the Pac-12 player group.
Despite Jones’ departure, UW will likely have eight scholarship wide receivers in 2021: redshirt junior Terrell Bynum, redshirt sophomores Marquis Spiker and Austin Osborne, sophomore Puka Nacua, second-year freshmen Rome Odunze, Jalen McMillan and Sawyer Racanelli and incoming freshman Jabez Tinae.
Of that group, Nacua led the way with nine catches for 151 yards and a touchdown in three games last fall, while Bynum added eight catches for 130 yards and 70 rushing yards as well. Odunze and McMillan, who received reps in their first seasons in Seattle in 2020, could realistically earn expanded roles.
UW also returns its entire starting offensive line as well as its starting quarterback in redshirt freshman Dylan Morris, though he will have to compete with graduate transfer Patrick O’Brien and five-star freshman Sam Huard to retain the starting job.
But none of the three will have Jones as a red-zone target in 2021.
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