The Washington Huskies football team has been ranked in several preseason top 25 polls by various publications.

Most publications with the Huskies ranked have the program around the 12th-15th range, which would place UW right in contention for the 12-team College Football Playoff. It would be the third CFP berth in the team's history and the first in the 12-team format.

Almost every poll mentions the benefit Washington has of the returning talent on the roster, spearheaded by junior quarterback Demond Williams Jr.

Williams is coming off a season where he led the Big Ten in total yardage (3,676) in addition to having 31 touchdowns. He recorded 3,065 yards and 25 touchdowns through the air and 611 yards and six touchdowns on the ground.

At the beginning of July, it was announced that Williams signed a contract to return to the Huskies for his third season. Several days after it was announced, Williams posted a statement announcing his intention to enter the transfer portal. He went back on that decision two days later and opted to honor his original decision to stay in the Pacific Northwest.

Since the chaotic two-day January Saga, Huskies head coach Jedd Fisch has stayed tight-lipped about the exact conversations with himself and Williams, simply stating that the two sides remained in communication throughout the two days, and Fisch convinced Williams that UW was the right place for him.

Fisch recently appeared on the Triple Option podcast and offered a couple more details about the saga and conversation with Williams.

"What happened was, a program told him they'd pay him an extra $2 million if he goes in the portal," Fisch said on the podcast. "And the kid's 19-years-old. We were paying him a lot but you add an extra $2 million onto anything. ... He was like forced to put something out there. We spent about 24-36 hours going back-and-forth and talking about 'This is the right place for you and you have a contract and contracts mean something.' In the end, he came back two days later. We didn't change anything, we didn't give him any more money or anything like that. But what we did do is we talked to him about what a great opportunity it is to be a three-year player in the same program. And we have a chance to do something super special."

It hasn't been reported definitively which program enticed Williams to enter the portal, but uncorroborated reports have speculated either LSU or Miami.

Fisch's confirmation that a team tampered to get Williams in the portal likely won't lead to any active punishment for the program that did such.

As for Williams himself, both he and Fisch have confirmed that the third-year signal-caller has had conversations with the team. No applicable parties have offered specifics on when those conversations took place or what the total context was, but it did seem in spring practice that Williams' near-farewell didn't have any impact on his relationship with the team.

Williams was one of the most vocal leaders on offense and constantly interacted with the offensive line and wide receivers, celebrating after big players and constantly communicating with his team.

Williams, Fisch and UW will begin the season in the annual Apple Cup showdown against the Washington State Cougars at 1 p.m. PT on Sept. 6 at Husky Stadium in Seattle. 

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