Huskies 2021 QB Pledge Sam Huard Focused on Development
SEATTLE – For the better part of two decades there always was at least one Huard holding court on the Evergreen State high school prep sports scene.
Starting in the late 1980s with Mike Huard, a father of three boys and head football coach at Puyallup High School, the surname has evolved over time while still remaining true to the family history.
The two older Huard brothers, Damon and Brock, both played for their father before moving on to play at the University of Washington while the youngest, Luke, chose North Carolina.
It has been 21 years since a quarterback with the Huard name has played college football. For one more season that fact remains true, until Sam Huard puts on his gold helmet with the purple UW logo.
Ranked as a four-star pro-style signal-caller out of Kennedy Catholic High School by Rivals in the 2021 recruiting class, the next Huard is poised to do more than continue to carry on the family name.
Sam has thrown 132 career touchdowns in his three seasons on varsity at Kennedy, which places him tied for fifth all-time in state history with former Eatonville HS signal-caller Bobby Lucht.
Huard trails four others; Brett Rypien (140), Max Browne (146), Brian Lindgren (162) and Kellen Moore (173), for the state record. Both Sam and Kellen are left-handed, and the latter is the last southpaw QB to play in the NFL.
For Sam, individual accolades aren’t the focus. Even though Kennedy Catholic head coach Sheldon Cross knows Huard will own the record books he appreciates his bigger, team-oriented goal that he has.
“He is unbelievably disciplined to be better, trying to be better and stubborn to be better. Focused and driven to be better.” Cross said of Huard last December after the 2019 season had concluded.
“I think he’s going to obviously shatter every record imaginable in the state of Washington. I don’t think he really cares about that,” Cross added, “but I think he wants to put a banner up at this school more than he wants to break records.”
The Lancers finished 2019 with an 11-1 record overall, losing 55-42 to Woodinville High School in the 4A state quarterfinals. Both Cross and Huard acknowledged there were plenty of lessons learned this past season.
“I feel like this past year we got a taste of what it really looks like to be able to go win it,” Huard said in December.
“We’re going to put the work in get ready to go. I can’t wait to get back out there. I have a great foundation here with a lot of my teammates on FSP (Ford Sports Performance) as well, so we can just continue to build that connection and get better this offseason.”
For the next few months Huard and several of his Kennedy Catholic teammates, including 2021 three-star wide receiver Junior Alexander, will continue to hone their game on the 7-on-7 circuit.
Huard led the Ford Sports Performance squad in 2019, which featured another Husky pledge at the time, four-star receiver Jalen McMillan. Outside of his high school teammates another UW target will be at his disposal this go-around, four-star receiver Troy Franklin, who plays for Menlo-Atherton High School in Atherton, California.
The time spent together during the offseason with be invaluable to Alexander, Jabez Tinae and the other Lancer receivers that also play for FSP. However, should the Huskies secure Franklin’s commitment, it would also help their future connection at Washington.
Huard remains locked in on his pledge to Washington. On the day Chris Petersen announced his resignation as the head football coach on December 2, 2019, the four-star recruit was caught off guard as most fans were.
“I was in class. We had to go put our phones (away) so I didn’t see it until after class,” he said, recalling the news.
“I looked at my phone and it was just blowing up. I was just like ‘wow’. So I called my parents. I was shocked. I was obviously upset because I love coach Pete. He’s one of the greatest coaches of all time.”
Once the news came out that defensive coordinator Jimmy Lake would be elevated to replace Petersen it quelled any concerns that Huard had. Later that same week Lake paid a visit to Kennedy Catholic and made a strong impression on both Huard and the coaches at the school.
Huard spoke with Petersen on the phone in the afternoon once the dust had settled from the announcement on Dec. 2. Their conversation, coupled with his talk with Lake and his parents collectively helped reaffirm his commitment to UW.
Huard has also spoken with the Huskies new offensive coordinator, John Donovan, since he was hired on January 10 and expressed optimism for his vision with the UW offense.
Sam was one of several unofficial visitors on hand for the Junior Day two weekends later where he got to spend more time with Donovan and the coaching staff.
“Really excited for him to be here and for what he’s going to bring to this offense,” Huard said, when asked his impression of the new UW coordinator. “We didn’t really go too in depth on it but he definitely learned a lot being in the NFL and he’ll use that at UW.”
Huard remains the only offensive commitment for the Huskies thus far in the 2021 recruiting class. UW has two pledges total with three-star Loyola cornerback Zahkari Spears being the latest to jump on board.