Former Washington commit Germie Bernard has entered the Transfer Portal, leaving the Michigan State Spartans. He will have 4 years to play 3 season.
Could the last man standing be the next man up?
Offered by Chris Petersen as a sophomore at Liberty High School on Las Vegas, Bernard fell in love with the Huskies, eventually committing to Washington.
But, when Petersen stepped down and Jimmy Lake took the reins Bernard remained steadfast in his pledge.
Even when Jimmy Lake was let go last season and receivers coach Junior Adams took over as Washington’s interim offensive coordinator, Bernard never wavered from his commitment to the Huskies.
Adams was initially retained as receivers coach but decided at the last minute to take the same position at Oregon.
The prized recruit decided not to follow Adams to Eugene. However, with no connection to the new staff at Washington he asked to be released from his letter of intent.
As a 4-star receiver at Liberty High School in Las Vegas, Bernard was more than infatuated with Washington. He took 11 trips to the Emerald City, including one this past September with the Michigan Spartans. Those trips include an official visit and 8 other trips where he paid his own way.
One of his trips to Seattle was during the Pandemic and the campus under lockdown. He couldn’t meet with the coaches, he wasn’t able see the facilities, he wasn’t allowed study the playbook, and he couldn’t fell the connections he’d forged with who were supposed to his future teammates and coaches,
Across Lake Washington, at Ford Sports Performance in Bellevue he was able to connect with a couple of friends and future teammates in quarterback Sam Huard, and Jabez Tinae. Also there was then Arizona State commit receiver Lonyatta Alexander, Jr., and Ohio State receiver pledge Emeka Egbuka.
Bernard and Huard were originally offered by Chris Petersen and the only two players to be offered by Petersen as sophomores.
Two years later and the grown up world of college football had left twisting in the wind in his hotel room.
Essentially, homeless.
Bernard reached out to coaches who he’d connected with or had friends on teams. He finally chose East Lansing, Michigan where he’d play for Mel Tucker and with be reunited with his friend and QB Katin Houser.
At Michigan State his first pass in his first game in green and white went for a 44-yard touchdown. Over the season he caught 6 more passes for 84 yards and a touchdown, including 3 for 28 yards against Ohio State. To many observers he was underutilized.
In my many conversations with Bernard he spoke that what the Washington football community at-large meant to him. From the beautiful campus, and it being an academic institution that presented him with tremendous opportunities after his playing days were over. And he dreamed of playing in front of 72,000 purple and gold-clad fans.
In fact, he wanted to be in the purple and gold so much that he trued to reclassify for the 2021, foregoing his senior season, coming up 2 classes short.
As it ended up, his paperwork cleared to enroll at Washington for the winter quarter in 2021.
His eleventh trip to Montlake was supposed to be his final before enrolling.
But there he stood, his 5 bags, his parents on hand to bid him farewell and that Saturday he understood what sleepless in Seattle really meant.
He was all set to begin his college career on Monday when he got the news of Adams’ departures.
Over the weekend and many conversations with Washington’s Kalen DeBoer he decided to leave the only school he has ever visited.
DeBoer let Bernard out of his letter of intent, but the coach also let him know that the door to Washington would always be open for a return to Washington.
Wide open-like Washington’s top-rated passing attack.
So, now the question bears: could a 12th trip to Seattle be in the works? Will he be trading in his green and white jersey for a purple and gold one? It’s not out of the question as he could reunited with his good friends Huard, Tinae, and Alexander. We will know more in the coming days.
