Mike Hopkins has made another addition via the transfer portal. Noah Williams, a former three-star recruit from O’Dea High School in Seattle has announced on his Instagram page that he’ll be transferring from Washington State back to Montlake to don the purple and gold.
Williams held four offers out of high school, including an offer from the Huskies, but opted to take his talents to the Palouse, where the 6’5 guard averaged 9.8 points, 2.3 assists, and 3.4 rebounds per game. He’s going to be a key piece for Hopkins, who has to rebuild his team yet again through the transfer portal. And if Williams shows the same passion for the program that he showed every time he played against Washington, Hopkins got a star.
It looks like Williams has wasted no time getting to work on the recruiting trail too, tagging Utah Valley transfer Fardaws Aimaq in the comments on his announcement post. Aimaq, who averaged 18.9 points and 13.6 rebounds per game for the Wolverines, is arguably the top player in the portal. If Williams can help pull in Aimaq, he might sit favorably in the eyes of Husky fans, who have been clashing with him since he chose the Cougars over the Dawgs.
This seems to be the first of many moves in the portal for Hopkins’ staff yet again. Almost the entire starting lineup will not be returning, and adding Williams is a good start. Expect the staff to take some big swings to try to land a few of the best players currently without a home. If he can land say, a trio of Aimaq, Stanford transfer Jaiden Delaire, and maybe Colorado transfer Keeshawn Barthelemy, that would be a huge boost for the roster in 2022.
Adding an exciting trio of Koren Johnson (who should see a lot of minutes early on), Tyler Lindhart, and Keyon Menifield is a great building block of a recruiting class, but it isn’t enough to push the Huskies over the top. Williams could be a key piece in not only returning Washington to the top of the conference, but in making sure the best local players decide to continue their college careers on Montlake.
