Muhammad Busy Looking for Another College Place to Land

Jabbar Muhammad is exhibit A of why so many players have fled the University of Washington football roster since appearing in the CFP national championship game.

Carefully guarding his NFL ambitions, the talented cornerback left Oklahoma State for Washington a year ago because the Huskies presented a much more stable situation for him — a veteran team with a successful coach and most of its starters returning, all ready to make a championship run.

Today, the Huskies have become the exact opposite of college football steadiness. Granted, they have a new previously successful coach in Jedd Fisch, yet the roster is in shambles, with just two Husky starting players left, both on defense, when spring football practice rolls around. No matter how anyone spins it, UW football has turned into a major rebuild.

The unfortunate thing about Muhammad is the Huskies could have had him as the centerpiece of their secondary for a second consecutive season — and, under different circumstances ( i.e., Kalen DeBoer not leaving for Alabama), they would have.

The 5-foot-10, 183-pound senior from DeSoto, Texas, surprised just about everyone by choosing to delay his NFL draft entry by another year and maximize his value. He recently explained the reasoning behind his decision to Max Torres of Ducks Digest, which is part of the Sports Illustrated network.

"After the game I was discussing with my parents what's the best situation for me, whether that's going to the NFL or coming back for another year," he said. "We decided we were definitely gonna come back to school, but, with Coach DeBoer taking another job, we kind of just didn't want a lot of disfunction surrounding my last year."

Instead, Muhammad will choose from among Texas, which didn't recruit him out of high school but has his cornerback cousin Malik Muhammad on the roster; Alabama, where DeBoer now coaches; and Oregon, a team he beat twice last season. He reportedly was in Austin on Wednesday, taking a look at the Longhorns. 

In facing two of these three teams, Muhammad had 3 tackles and 2 pass break-ups in a regular-season victory over the Ducks, a PBU in the Pac-12 championship game against Oregon, and 2 tackles and 3 PBUs against Texas in the Sugar Bowl. 

The former Husky corner said he will, in consultation with his father and a brother after taking a handful of recruiting visits, have his new school in place by the end of the week. 

He wants to join another playoff contender, one with a coach firmly in place, a team where he can show off his talents on a big stage again. He noted how Oregon coach Dan Lanning turned down an opportunity to coach elsewhere, leaving the Ducks as an attractive destination.

"I want to be on a really good football team," Muhammad said. "Like I said my last year, really good teams are really important for going to the next level, and that's also what I want to do. I also want to get in a situation where I'm propelled and ready to go to the NFL."