SEATTLE – Although he had not yet enrolled, Jeremiah Hunter was in Seattle when he learned he would not play for Kalen DeBoer in Washington.
Hunter was on his official visit and eating breakfast with his parents and Darnell Duckett, a former University of Wisconsin recruiting assistant, when he glanced at Instagram and saw a post about the departure of DeBoer to replace Nick Saban at Alabama.
California’s best receiver of the last two seasons committed to Washington for his senior year in late December. Hunter said he was drawn to a program and offense “that just looked like they were having fun.” His official visit just days after Washington’s loss to Michigan in the national championship game was likely little more than a formality.
Instead, Hunter flew home knowing little about his immediate future. He didn’t see DeBoer on the visit, he said, and former receivers coach JaMarcus Shephard didn’t have much information, telling him only, “Maybe I’ll get a job here, maybe I’ll get a job at Bama. I don’t know.”
However, Hunter cannot be accused of taking last winter’s coaching carousel too seriously in any way.
“It was funny,” he said after Washington’s practice on Tuesday. “I thought it was hilarious.”
