Report: Mississippi State transfer QB Will Rogers commits to Washington
SEATTLE – Kalen DeBoer has done this before.
In more ways than one.
Two years after UW’s coach took a high-profile quarterback transfer in Indiana’s Michael Penix Jr., DeBoer appears to be following a similar path. Will Rogers — the SEC’s No. 2 all-time passer, with 12,315 yards in four seasons at Mississippi State — will transfer to Washington, he told ESPN Friday. Rogers has one season of remaining eligibility.
This also marks the program’s return to Mississippi State, after standout running back Dillon Johnson transferred to UW last offseason.
The 6-foot-2, 215-pound Rogers reportedly committed while on an official visit to Seattle. He reposted ESPN’s story detailing his commitment on social media, essentially confirming the news.
In four seasons, 43 games and 40 starts, Rogers completed 69.4% of his passes and threw for 12,315 yards with 96 total touchdowns and 28 interceptions. The Brandon, Miss., native excelled in Mike Leach’s air raid offense, setting SEC records for single-season (505 in 2021) and career completions (1,301) and school records for career passing yards (12,315) and passing touchdowns (94).
By those standards, Rogers struggled somewhat in 2023 — completing just 60% of his passes and throwing for 1,626 yards with 13 total touchdowns and four interceptions, while missing four games with a shoulder injury. His statistics backslid after being thrust into an unfamiliar system, under a first-year coach (Zach Arnett) who was fired in November after just 10 games.
Like Penix after four injury-plagued seasons at Indiana, Rogers brings both promise and risk.
But his character is not in question.
“Will … man, that’s a leader. He knows how to lead,” said Johnson, who played with Rogers from 2020 to 2022. “He was our leader when I was at Mississippi State, and he still is a leader.”
Considering UW’s sudden absence of experience, proven leadership will be welcome. Three other scholarship quarterbacks — junior William Haskell, redshirt freshman Austin Mack and true freshman Dermaricus Davis — are expected to fill out UW’s quarterback room.
But without Penix (who’s out of eligibility after finishing as the Heisman Trophy runner-up this fall) and junior Dylan Morris (who entered the transfer portal Monday and started 15 games in Seattle), Rogers is easily Washington’s most veteran arm.
“Those are guys [Mack and Davis] we’re really excited to be part of the program, but they lack experience,” UW offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb said Thursday. “So I think the first quality [we’re looking for in a transfer QB] is a guy that has some experience, and then he has to be a fit. The culture piece is huge.
“Mike came in here and made this place better than when he found it. He did that through growing as a leader and as a person. Shoot, today he was just in there and we didn’t have a good practice on offense, and some of the guys I think were a little bit absent-minded on practice. Coaches didn’t have to say anything. Mike kept the offense afterward and got after ‘em, like, ‘What are we chasing? Every practice matters. Every lift matters.’
“So that’s the thing you have to have from a guy coming in from a leadership standpoint, someone that can fall in line with that and try to pick up where Mike left off. They’re not going to be Mike. They have to be their own person. But experience and leadership I think are two key parts.”
Indeed, Rogers cannot and will not be Penix — who produced 66% completions, 8,859 passing yards, 71 touchdowns, 17 interceptions and 24 wins in 26 games (as well as a Pac-12 title, a Maxwell Award and a playoff berth).
But DeBoer and Grubb certainly believe what the statistics say:
The SEC’s No. 2 all-time passer can play.