‘A ton of great moments’: His Commanders fell short in Super Bowl bid, but CdA’s Colson Yankoff was thrilled just to be on the field
Colson Yankoff never started at a regular position in his college football career.
Who would believe that the former UCLA backup quarterback/running back/wide receiver would make it to the NFL? And at a primary position.
“Yeah, that’s correct,” Yankoff said about having no starting experience in college. “It’s a great question, honestly. If I’m completely honest, a lot of luck and right place right time with a (coaching) staff that believes in you. A lot of stuff candidly was out of my control, but what I did want to control was how hard I worked and the position I put myself in to be successful. To make it to the NFL, special teams was going to be my foot in the door. It’s something I excelled at at UCLA. I didn’t really have a positional home, if you will, in college. So I knew I had to get in the door some other way.”
Yankoff, who’ll turn 25 in March, landed with the Washington Commanders, signing as an unrestricted free agent.
Few would believe the former record-setting quarterback from Coeur d’Alene High would survive rookie minicamp and fall camp, making the 53-man roster.
Yankoff just finished a magical season with the Commanders under first-year head coach Dan Quinn. Washington advanced to the NFC Championship game and lost to the Philadelphia Eagles 55-23.
He played on all four special team units, registering 101 snaps. He had five tackles, including one in the NFC title game, and had six snaps at tight end.
It seemed Yankoff was destined for a college career as a starting quarterback. He signed with the University of Washington, but he ended up leaving Seattle for UCLA.
Yankoff was a backup quarterback upon his arrival in Los Angeles but switched to wide receiver. Two broken bones and two years of dealing with the injury closed that door. He was hoping then to move to tight end, but coaches moved him to running back.
All the while he was focusing on being the best special teams player he could be.
“That was an intentional thing on my part, to do special teams the way I did and try to excel in that area,” Yankoff said. “I didn’t know if that was going to be enough or not.”
As soon as his final season at UCLA ended in fall 2023, Yankoff had a decision to make – start putting a bachelor’s degree in economics and a master’s in education to work or pursue the NFL.
Yankoff decided to bet on himself.
“I didn’t really know what to do following my last season at UCLA,” Yankoff said. “Football had always been Plan A. I didn’t have a Plan B.”
Yankoff had received an email about a lesser-known bowl game in Texas called the Gridiron Showcase. He thought at first a friend might have been punking him.
He ended up signing with an agent, who confirmed the showcase was legitimate. Yankoff went and made contacts with NFL teams.
Yankoff had to list a position he played.
“So we decided to label myself as a tight end,” Yankoff said. “I had zero film at that position.”
Which makes his story all the more unfathomable. He went to the showcase and was able to be an athlete and get something on video.
“That went pretty well for me,” Yankoff said.
He slowly started talking to some NFL scouts.
“By the time the draft came around, we had talked to enough teams that we knew I had a shot to sign somewhere at the very least,” Yankoff said. “Obviously, the expectation was not to be drafted.”
The draft arrived. On the final day of the three-day event, Yankoff got a call from the Commanders in the sixth round.
“They communicated that they weren’t going to take me with any of their remaining draft picks but would love to sign me as a free agent,” Yankoff said.
He signed a three-year $2,840,000 contract in late April that included a modest $10,000 signing bonus. His base salary this year was $960,000.
The work was just beginning for the 6-foot-4, 238-pound Yankoff.
He reported to minicamp in May.
“Our special teams coordinator in Washington (Larry Izzo) liked me and so did their front office,” Yankoff said. “You get there and do your workouts, and they saw something in me at tight end as well and it obviously helped.”
Yankoff reported back in late July and braced himself for the next challenge.
Nothing was guaranteed. Yankoff could have been cut any time.
“It’s not like I signed a contract with guaranteed money or anything,” Yankoff said. “I did, but it was inconsequential for them for a reason.”
The NFL changed its preseason waiver rules this year. Instead of three cuts during preseason, it allowed teams to keep their bulging rosters until a final cut in early September.
The cut to 53-man rosters came. Yankoff was living with a handful of rookies.
“I heard from the veterans that that day is sucky,” Yankoff said.
Yankoff and his roommates tried to distract themselves by playing cards.
“It’s like one of those things that no news is good news. You’re literally sitting around all day hoping your phone doesn’t ring,” Yankoff said. “You don’t go into the facilities. You sit around and wait. It was the longest day of my life. At one point, one of my buddies disappeared.”
Evening came, and Yankoff’s phone had yet to ring. The next morning he did what he usually did and went into the practice facility.
“To be honest with you, I still wasn’t convinced that I had made the team,” Yankoff said. “I thought they must not have gotten around to calling me. And even after the cuts they’re able to sign other free agents who were cut by other teams. There are a lot of moving parts.”
Even when it was finally official, Yankoff wasn’t taking anything for granted.
“I went right back to work,” he said.
Yankoff injured a hamstring and spent time on the injured reserve. He returned and was activated for the final two weeks of the playoffs.
One of his season highlights was the Commanders beating Chicago on a Hail Mary.
“There were a ton of great moments,” Yankoff said. “Playing in the NFC Championship game was pretty insane. If you’d told me eight months ago that’s what I’d be doing, it would have been a crazy thought.”
As Yankoff looks back, he knows how special this season turned out.
“Obviously, I knew that the deck wasn’t stacked in my favor, but I always believed if I got the opportunity I could do it,” he said.
Yankoff lived with rookies Luke McCaffrey (wide receiver), Ben Sinnott (tight end) and Sam Hartman (quarterback).
Izzo was the first Commanders coach to reach out to Yankoff after he signed.
“I was at a Farmer’s Market and I see this unknown number show up on my phone,” Yankoff said. “I answered it and it was coach Izzo. He said, ‘Hey, man, you’re one of the top guys on my board from a special teams perspective.’ I knew that didn’t get me far on the roster. But it felt good. He said they saw me as a tight end, but he was going to push for me on special teams. He’s an awesome dude.”
He said the rookies had an exit interview with Quinn and the general manager, Adam Peters, a day after the season ended. They explained their expectations for the players in the offseason.
Yankoff plans to spend most of the offseason in Southern California working out. Then he’ll start the process again with the minicamp after the draft.
“I’m starting over in my mentality. I’ve got to make the team again,” Yankoff said. “Nothing I did this year secured me anything in my mind. I have to get right back after it and do it all again.”
Yankoff’s high school coach, Shawn Amos, talked like a proud father referencing his former star quarterback.
“Most people don’t realize how freakish it is to make an NFL 53-man roster,” Amos said. “As an athlete and a human, to go through all the challenges and changes with the grace and acceptance that he went through in his college career reveals what kind of person he is. I’m sure there were many times of frustration in college, but his philosophy has always been I’m just going to go back to work.”
Yankoff is the first athlete Amos, who has coached nearly 30 years (27 at CdA), has made an NFL 53-man roster.
Amos said Yankoff is an athlete who needed little coaching from him and his staff.
“He was on a different level athletically,” Amos said. “He’s such a great human. I’ve always said he doesn’t need football to be successful. He’s an exceptional young man.
“I always say in coaching there are kids who need us as coaches and there are kids we get to coach. He’s in the get-to-coach category. We got to coach Colson Yankoff. He made our job easy.”
Yankoff begs to differ.
“I wouldn’t be anywhere today without my coaches at Coeur d’Alene High,” Yankoff said. “I didn’t know how to play quarterback when I got to Coeur d’Alene. That’s where it all started for me. I can’t thank them enough. They played a huge role in my life.”
Above: Colson Yankoff, who was part of a deep Washington Huskies quarterback class, warms up prior to a 2018 game against UCLA in Pasadena, California. He would transfer to UCLA the following season. Left: Colson Yankoff (7), who made the switch to wide receiver after transferring to UCLA, celebrates a touchdown in a 2022 game against the Colorado Buffaloes at Folsom Field.