In the blink of an eye, the final month of the college football regular season is here. As Washington is focused on building off a pair of back-to-back road wins, Jedd Fisch has already begun fielding questions regarding roster construction for next season. It's a new era, to say the least.
Looking at both sides of the ball, it's no secret that Fisch and his staff have made it a priority to give its young talent an opportunity to play major roles. The Huskies have the third-youngest team in the Big Ten with an average age of 20.04 years, trailing only Ohio State and USC. While most programs would turn to the transfer portal to add experience and depth, the third-year head coach shared his approach to building his program.
"We are not looking to
go out into the world of the portal," Fisch said. "We're looking to use our players' experiences within our system to get better. This year we made a very conscious decision to play young players, and hopefully each week those young players continue to get better. We understand that will come at a cost, but we much prefer to pay our players for getting better than having to go guess on a player on how they would fit in with our culture and with our team."
The old-school strategy has been evident since Fisch's arrival on Montlake. After bringing in a pair of top-20 portal classes in 2024 and 2025, the Huskies invested heavily in the high school ranks this past recruiting cycle. According to 247Sports, Washington's 2026 recruiting class ranked No. 13 in the nation, a program record, while their transfer portal class ranked just No. 59.
Outside of young playmakers such as running back Adam Mohammed and wide receiver Raiden Vines-Bright, UW did a solid job of retaining most of their high-ceiling talent. Out of the 22 combined starters, five are true freshmen, and several other first-year players have had their names called throughout the season.
With the offseason on the horizon, the top priority will be keeping the core of young rising talent in Seattle.
For better or worse, this is the state of the sport. Despite lots of meaningful football left to be played, College Football Playoff hopes are essentially out the window, meaning the attention of fans and local media has slowly shifted to potential changes for 2027. While the decision to minimize use of the transfer portal isn't a popular one, the hope is that by this time next year, Washington's attention will still be on the season they're currently in.
Only time will tell.
This article originally appeared on Huskies Wire: Jedd Fisch Emphasizes Roster Maintenance Ahead of Offseason
