Washington 2024 OL signee Paki Finau enters NCAA transfer portal

Washington offensive lineman signee Paki Finau entered the NCAA transfer portal. This comes within days of Jedd Fisch being named the new Huskies head coach.

As a member of the Class of 2024, Finau was a four-star recruit out of Hesperia (Calif.) Oak Hills, according to the On3 Industry Ranking, a weighted average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies. He was the No. 29 overall prospect in the state, the No. 25 interior offensive lineman in the class and the No. 306 overall prospect in the class.

Finau had the opportunity to enter the portal after Kalen DeBoer took the Alabama job upon Nick Saban’s retirement.

“When I went out there, it was great,” Finau told On3 regarding Washington in April of last year. “Right when we walked into the building, everybody was welcoming. Their o-line coach, coach (Scott) Huff, it just felt like he was on my hip the whole visit. We were talking back-and-forth, not just about football, and they have a great culture.

“I met their left tackle, Troy Fautanu. Me and him were talking about more than just football. We were talking about video games and how we lived in Vegas. I feel like coach Huff can develop o-linemen the right way.”

To keep up with the latest players on the move, check out On3’s Transfer Portal wire

Jedd Fisch previews Washington’s roster overhaul

New head coaches are typically challenged with roster and staff turnover upon their arrival to a new destination, but in today’s version of college football, roster turnover is more frequent than ever.

Which led to Fisch being asked about what’s ahead of him in the next few weeks in terms of recruiting in his introductory press conference.

“Well it’s certainly an interesting situation here because I believe right now there’s 17 players in the portal from this roster,” Fisch explained. “There’s nine players or 10 players that have declared for the NFL Draft, you probably have the most amount of players that are gonna get drafted in the NFL will probably come from the University of Washington, this year’s draft. So we know it’s gonna be a completely different team in 2024 than what the community saw in 2023.“

DeBoer helped lead Washington to the national championship game this past season behind an undefeated regular season record and a roster littered with veteran talent.