Sam Huard (born June 17, 2002) is an

American football American football, referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada and also known as gridiron football, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular American football field, field with goalposts at e ...

quarterback The quarterback (QB) is a position in gridiron football who are members of the offensive side of the ball and mostly line up directly behind the Lineman (football), offensive line. In modern American football, the quarterback is usually consider ...

for the

USC Trojans The USC Trojans (also Southern California Trojans) are the College athletics in the United States, intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Southern California (USC) in Los Angeles. While the men's teams are nicknamed the ...

. He has previously played for the

Washington Huskies The Washington Huskies are the college athletics in the United States, intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Washington, located in Seattle. The school competes at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) N ...

, the

Cal Poly Mustangs The Cal Poly Mustangs are the athletic teams representing California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo, California. The university fields twenty teams and competes in NCAA D ...

and the

Utah Utes The Utah Utes are the college athletics in the United States, intercollegiate athletics teams that represent the University of Utah, located in Salt Lake City. The athletic department is named after the Ute tribe of Native Americans in the Unite ...

Early life and high school

Huard grew up in

Bellevue, Washington Bellevue ( ) is a city in the Eastside (King County, Washington), Eastside region of King County, Washington, United States, located across Lake Washington from Seattle. It is the third-largest city in the Seattle metropolitan area, and the f ...

and attended John F. Kennedy Catholic High School. He was named the ''

MaxPreps MaxPreps is an American website that specializes in coverage of American high school sports. The site is currently owned by PlayOn. Founded on August 1, 2002, the company has covered up to 29 sports, including boys, girls, and co-ed sports. ...

'' National Freshman of the Year after passing for 3,432 yards and 34 touchdowns. Huard completed 248 of 395 passes for 4,141 yard with 42 touchdowns and 10 interceptions during his sophomore season. He completed 269 of 426 passes for 4,172 yards with 56 touchdowns and 11 interceptions as a junior and was named the Area Offensive Player of the Year by ''

The Seattle Times ''The Seattle Times'' is an American daily newspaper based in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1891, ''The Seattle Times'' has the largest circulation of any newspaper in the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest region. The Seattle Time ...

'' and the 4A State Player of the Year by the

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American not-for-profit organization, not-for-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association, and produces news reports that are dist ...

. Huard passes 1,473 yards and 21 touchdowns with no interceptions during his senior season, which was postponed from the fall to the spring of 2021 due to COVID-19. He also was invited to play in the 2021

All-American Bowl The All-American Bowl was an annual postseason college football bowl game played at Legion Field in Birmingham, Alabama from 1977 to 1990. The game was known as the Hall of Fame Classic from 1977 to 1985. In 1986, the National Football Foundatio ...

. Huard finished his high school career with a state record 13,214 passing yards and threw 153 touchdown passes. Huard was initially rated a four-star recruit. He committed to play college football at

Washington Washington most commonly refers to: * George Washington (1732–1799), the first president of the United States * Washington (state), a state in the Pacific Northwest of the United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A ...

as a sophomore over offers from

Boise State Boise State University (BSU) is a public research university in Boise, Idaho, United States. Founded in 1932 by the Episcopal Church, it became an independent junior college in 1934 and has been awarding baccalaureate and master's degrees It ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

Tennessee Tennessee (, ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Kentucky to the north, Virginia to the northeast, North Carolina t ...

, and

Washington State Washington, officially the State of Washington, is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is often referred to as Washington State to distinguish it from the national capital, both named after George Washington ...

. Huard was re-rated as a five-star recruit during his senior year.

College career

Washington

Huard entered his freshman season at Washington as the Huskies second-string quarterback behind Dylan Morris. He appeared in four games during the season, completing 22-for-42 pass attempts for 241 yards with one touchdown and four interceptions. Huard made his first career start in the

Apple Cup The Apple Cup is an American college football rivalry game between the University of Washington Huskies and Washington State University Cougars, the two largest universities in the state of Washington. Both were members of the Pac-12 Conferen ...

rivalry game at the end of the 2021 season, completing 17-of-31 pass attempts for 190 yards and one touchdown with four interceptions in a 40-13 loss to

. In 2022, Huard served as the third-string quarterback behind superstar transfer

Michael Penix Jr. Michael Tarrence Penix Jr. ( ; born May 8, 2000) is an American professional American football, football quarterback for the Atlanta Falcons of the National Football League (NFL). After three seasons of college football with the Indiana Hoosiers ...

and Morris. Following the end of the season, he entered the NCAA transfer portal.

Cal Poly

Huard ultimately transferred to Cal Poly in

San Luis Obispo ; ; ; Chumashan languages, Chumash: ''tiłhini'') is a city and county seat of San Luis Obispo County, California, United States. Located on the Central Coast (California), Central Coast of California, San Luis Obispo is roughly halfway betwee ...

. The transfer reunited him with his former head coach at Kennedy Catholic, Sheldon Cross, who had recently been hired as the Mustangs' offensive coordinator. Huard opened the 2023 season as Cal Poly's starting quarterback. He played in 9 games for the Mustangs, totaling 2,205 yards, 18 touchdowns, and 10 interceptions.

Utah

On May 7, 2024, Huard transferred to the

University of Utah The University of Utah (the U, U of U, or simply Utah) is a public university, public research university in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. It was established in 1850 as the University of Deseret (Book of Mormon), Deseret by the General A ...

. On December 8, 2024, Huard announced that he would enter the transfer portal for the third time.

USC

On January 6, 2025, Huard announced that he would transfer to

USC USC may refer to: Education United States * Universidad del Sagrado Corazón, Santurce, Puerto Rico * University of South Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina ** University of South Carolina System, a state university system of South Carolina * ...

Statistics

Personal life

Huard is the son of former Washington and NFL quarterback

Damon Huard Damon Paul Huard (born July 9, 1973) is an American former professional football quarterback. He is the director of community relations and fundraising for the University of Washington football program, his alma mater. Huard was signed by the ...

. His uncle,

Brock Huard Brock Anthony Huard (born April 15, 1976) is an American former professional football player who was a quarterback in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Washington Huskies. Huard's older brother Damon also ...

, also played quarterback at Washington and in the NFL. Another uncle, Luke Huard, played quarterback at North Carolina and is currently a member of the USC Trojans coaching staff.

References

External links

Washington Huskies bioCal Poly Mustangs bioUtah Utes bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Huard, Sam 2002 births Living people American football quarterbacks Washington Huskies football players Cal Poly Mustangs football players Players of American football from Bellevue, Washington Utah Utes football players