Former Arizona DL transfer Russell Davis commits to Washington
The Washington Huskies just received some transfer portal news that is in their favor. On Wednesday night, former Arizona Wildcats defensive lineman Russell Davis II announced from his social media page that he is joining his former head coach, Jedd Fisch, in Washington for the 2024 season.
After the departure of Pac-12 championship-winning head coach Kalen DeBoer, watching experienced a high value of departures from the program. But now that Fisch has taken over the program, the Huskies are beginning to see an uptick in commitments, especially those from Fisch’s former head coaching stop, Arizona.
Davis made the announcement of his commitment with this video post it to his X account.
Davis spent the first two years of his collegiate career under Fisch’s tutelage at Arizona. There, he was able to play early and often saw action in a total of 23 games, 12 as a freshman and 11 in his sophomore season. With the Wildcats, Davis recorded 28 total tackles, 20 solo, 7.5 tackles for loss, and 3.5 sacks. The majority of his stats came in 2023, his sophomore season, when he recorded 16 total tackles, 13 solo, 5.5 tackles for loss, and 3.5 sacks.
Davis played high school football at Hamilton High in Chandler, AZ, where he was a three-star prospect. He was the No. 837 overall recruit in the 2022 cycle, according to the On3 Industry Ranking, a weighted average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies.
To keep up with the latest players on the move, check out On3’s Transfer Portal wire.
The On3 Transfer Portal Instagram account and Twitter account are excellent resources to stay up to date with the latest moves.
Fisch evaluates how he balances high school, transfer portal in recruiting
One of the most important things for college coaches to manage is how they build their rosters. That’s especially true for coaches at a new school, like Jedd Fisch at Washington.
Fisch explained that his goal is to be able to build through high school recruiting, even though the Transfer Portal has become so prevalent. That, to him, is a key for the Huskies moving forward.
“We’re about development here, and what we pride ourselves in is finding high school players and developing them,” Jedd Fisch said. “One of the issues that is happening in college football is high school kids are being looked over because everybody’s in this constant quest and pressure to have to win this exact second.”
Fisch has a seven-year contract with Washington, starting at $7.5 million annually. That’s about $54 million overall and he gets 85% of his remaining contract if he were to be fired without cause. That offers Fisch stability that he says helps build the roster the way he wants.
“The beautiful thing of starting on day two of a lengthy contract is, we can find a way to build this team for sustainable success and not feel like every year you have to go find transfers to fill holes,” Fisch said. “Now, we would love to be a team that can sign 20 high school kids every year, 25 potentially, and then use what I call free agency or the transfer portal to fill in the gaps.”