LB Buddah Al-Uqdah announces he’s transferring from WSU to rival UW, plus other news and notes

SAN DIEGO – Linebacker Buddah Al-Uqdah is taking his talents across the state.

The former Washington State linebacker is transferring to rival Washington, he announced on Thursday, putting an end to his three-year stay with the Cougars.

He’s joining a Huskies squad that finished its first Big Ten regular season with a 4-5 record and 6-6 overall.

Al-Uqdah, who entered the transfer portal on Dec. 17, led the team with six takeaways (three interceptions and three forced fumbles). He also paced the Cougars with 76 tackles, including 51 solo, adding two pass breakups. A staple in WSU’s linebacker corps for the last season and a half, Al-Uqdah started all 12 games this season.

A Los Angeles native, Al-Uqdah joined the starting lineup midway through last year and had 17 starts in his WSU career. A tad undersized at 6 feet and 232 pounds, Al-Uqdah made up for it by coming up with several key takeaways , including an interception return for touchdown against Oregon State and a fourth-quarter interception that set up a road win over San Diego State.

Al-Uqdah finished with a Pro Football Focus defensive grade of 81.5, No. 17 nationally among linebackers with at least 500 snaps.

Al-Uqdah is one of 28 Cougars to enter the transfer portal since the end of the regular season, including the 13th starter. All are eligible to play in WSU’s Holiday Bowl matchup with No. 22 Syracuse on Friday, a policy the team voted to enact when the departures began to pile up and head coach Jake Dickert left for Wake Forest. It’s been unclear how many players would be interested in doing so.

Al-Uqdah is the eighth Cougar to find a new home this offseason, joining wide receiver Kris Hutson (Arizona), defensive lineman Ansel Din-Mbuh (TCU), punter Nick Haberer (Vanderbilt), quarterback John Mateer (Oklahoma), safety Adrian Wilson (Arizona State), defensive tackle Khalil Laufau (Houston) and running back Wayshawn Parker (Utah).

Earlier this week, WSU acting head coach Pete Kaligis said only three of the portal-bound Cougars had elected to stay out of the Holiday Bowl, but it seems unlikely players committed to other schools would get the green light to do so.

In a joint news conference with Syracuse coach Fran Brown on Thursday, Kaligis said players who had entered the portal after Dec. 18 would be able to play in the Holiday Bowl. That would not include Al-Uqdah – it would exclude most of the 28 players – but it would include key players like cornerback Stephen Hall and receiver Josh Meredith, plus up-and-coming players like freshman wideouts Chris Barnes and Isaiah Cobbs.

Defensive tackle David Gusta will not play in Friday’s game, Kaligis confirmed, citing an ankle injury.

Gusta has been in the transfer portal since Dec. 19. He is one of the Cougars’ top three defensive linemen who have entered the portal, joining Din-Mbuh and Laufau.

Among defensive linemen with 500-plus snaps this season, Gusta ranked No. 5 nationally with a Pro Football Focus defensive grade of 84.5.

Those absences will likely force younger defensive linemen into the spotlight, including Bryson Lamb and Jackson Cowgill.

“I always ask the men the question,” Kaligis said about players entering the portal, “ ‘How can you become your best when the coaching staffs are always changing, the process changes, the technique changes?’ How can a young man become his best when the coach isn’t there all the time?

“When it changes for us, it’s about loving the young man and finding the depth of their soul, so you can coach them the way they need to be coached. They all have talent, but they need to believe in it.”