Imagine the NFL launches an expansion team beginning this fall, and that team uses the logos, facilities and records of the defending Super Bowl runner-up San Francisco 49ers. That's not an exact 1-to-1 similarity of what's happened at Washington, but it's close, and the evidence was in a FedEx truck leaving the Huskies' football offices on Monday.
New Head Husky Jedd Fisch tweeted that Washington shipped out 66 sets of rings to former members of the team that have since moved on to the NFL, to Alabama, or to a new phase of life since their run to the College Football Playoff championship game.
Congratulations @KalenDeBoer and the entire 2023 Washington Football Team. We celebrated tonight your team's success. Rings have been shipped out to every member of the team and staff! Enjoy & Congrats! #Fedex66rings #2024startsnow https://t.co/7FLNUwc50v
— Jedd Fisch (@CoachJeddFisch) July 30, 2024
As FootballScoop detailed in between Washington's Sugar Bowl victory over Texas and their eventual loss to Michigan in the title game, that Husky team was a veteran group even by the unique standards transfer portal and extra-covid-year era. Of their 22 starters, one -- one! -- starter left high school after 2020. Those Huskies started seven members of the high school class of 2020, seven from 2019, and seven more from 2018. Nine of Washington's 11 defensive starters were fifth- or sixth-year players.
So it follows that the NFL's talent evaluation industry was infatuated with Washington. Ten Huskies heard their names called in April's draft but, by our Selection Points formula, Washington had the best NFL Draft in college football.
And then there's the huge and obvious extenuating factor, the one that led to Fisch sending that tweet in the first place: Kalen DeBoer taking the Alabama job. Fisch brought in his own staff, and as a result Washington enters 2024 with an entirely new coaching staff.
2023 Washington Staff: Current Staff
Kalen DeBoer (HC): Alabama
Lee Marks (AHC/RBs): Memphis
Ryan Grubb (OC): Seattle Seahawks, via Alabama
William Inge (co-DC): Tennessee
Chuck Morrell (co-DC): Alabama
Eric Schmidt (STC): San Diego State
JaMarcus Shephard (PGC/WRs): Alabama
Scott Huff (OL): Seattle Seahawks, via Alabama
Nick Sheridan (TEs): Alabama
Julius Brown (CBs): TCU
Inoke Breckterfield (DL): Baylor
DeBoer's departure didn't just force his staff to scatter. Washington lost 30 transfers, according to the 247Sports database, including a contingent of four Huskies that followed DeBoer and co. to Tuscaloosa, led by center Parker Brailsford -- the lone Washington starter in his first, second or third year of college football.
Add in that the defending Pac-12 champions no longer have a conference championship to defend, and it's a completely unprecedented situation in this sport that's now into the second half of its second century of existence.
"We had to build a culture with a bunch of guys that have never really started or played in games together that were very meaningful. We had to teach them what we would expect on a daily basis. They've embraced it. They've worked extremely hard together. They found a way to really open up their arms and embrace all the different type of players we brought in from all the different communities," Fisch said at Big Ten media days.
"So our culture is that. It's a culture of belonging. It's a culture of inclusiveness, and it's a culture of wanting to make sure that, if we act and behave in a certain manner, that we understand that we can have a lot of fun competing."
Fisch and his staff had to build an entirely new culture, because the old culture shipped out on a FedEx truck.
As always, stay tuned to The Scoop for the latest.