UWashington Star QB Returns After Drama

The University of Washington football program experienced some QB loyalty drama this week — a situation that may become a reality for other major college football programs. 

Within one week, Huskies quarterback Demond Williams Jr. went from signing a new contract with UW, to entering the transfer portal, to returning to the university. 

According to The Athletic, this “potential standoff” between the school and star QB centered around a new phenomenon in the college athletics industry — the enforceability of revenue-sharing contracts. 

Notably, the school reported it would pursue all legal avenues during the standoff. It was UW’s position that Williams signed a legally-binding revenue-share agreement. Williams ended up returning on a deal worth about $4M.

Disputes between players and universities have become increasingly common as schools are now able to pay up to $20.5M in revenue to sharing to all athletes for the 2025-26 academic year as a result of the House settlement.

For example, the University of Georgia and former defensive end Damon Wilson have asserted legal claims against each other in Georgia court. It is believed the lawsuit is the first-of-its-kind where a school is pursuing legal action over a player’s decision to transfer. Further, in 2024, former Wisconsin DB Xavier Lucas unenrolled and then re-enrolled at Miami after UW refused to enter him in the portal. 

The Williams drama came with some representation drama too — Doug Hendrickson from Wasserman parted ways with Williams due to “philosophical differences” before Darren Heitner was retained as legal counsel. 

The biggest difficulty of revenue-sharing disputes?