Every offseason, Senior FCS Analyst Sam Herder of Hero Sports compiles a list of Division I football transfers from the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) to the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS). When making the list, Herder will come across the occasional former four-star recruits who moved to the FCS level, but he couldn’t recall a former five-star transfer like Sam Huard.
When the news broke on GoPoly.com that Huard was transferring from the University of Washington to Cal Poly, Herder didn’t put much stock in it.
“I shared the news on [X, formerly known as Twitter] that he was transferring there, but I didn’t make too much of a fuss about it,” Herder wrote to Mustang News. “I’ve seen teams bring in like 15 FBS transfers and their record actually gets worse.”
Following Huard’s arrival at Cal Poly, there wasn’t an immediate injection of wins into the program in the 2023 season, but that was never the expectation. Given how young of a team Cal Poly is, the Mustangs looked to take steps toward becoming a more competitive team in the rigorous Big Sky Conference.
For years Cal Poly Football was adrift, looking to build some semblance of culture and identity. The team hasn’t had a winning season since 2016 and has seen three head coaches since 2018, according to GoPoly.com.
But after Huard’s first season with new head coach Paul Wulff and offensive coordinator Sheldon Cross, there’s now belief a winning program can be built in San Luis Obispo.
A record broken
BURIEN, WA — Coming into a home game against Kentwood on March 27, 2021, Huard was 341 yards short of the Washington state career-passing record of 13,044 yards, which was held at the time by NFL quarterback Brett Rypien.
In the waning seconds of the first half, Kennedy Catholic’s athletic director went up to Cross and let him know Huard had broken the record. Huard, the No. 1 pro-style quarterback in his high school class, had eclipsed 341 yards in one half and now held the all-time state career passing yard record. Huard had reached the peak of high school success at Kennedy.
Growing up, Sam played in the youth football program for Eastside Catholic, a powerhouse in Washington’s high school football scene with multiple recent championship wins under their belt..
Sam’s uncle Luke Huard, a close friend of Cross dating back to high school, convinced him to take a visit to a little-known school about 30 minutes south of where Sam lived called Kennedy Catholic. Cross was the head coach of the football team.
“I decided to take a visit down there and when I met with [Cross] he was showing me the Air Raid offense,” Huard said on The Gallop podcast in April of 2023. “I just remember Coach Cross telling me, ‘You can go to [Eastside Catholic] and go to a great program or you can come here and you can build something special.’”
Right away, as a 150-pound freshman, Cross started Huard at quarterback. But success didn’t come right away. Kennedy Catholic went 6-4 and finished fifth in their district in Huard’s first year.
However, in Huard’s third season under center, the team took off and finished the regular season 11-0. Kennedy Catholic was the No. 1 team in the state of Washington and was ranked 25th in the country.
In just three years, Kennedy Catholic went from a middle-of-the-pack team in their district to one of the best in the country as Huard became the No. 1 pro-style quarterback in his high school class.
How Huard and Cross helped change the culture at Kennedy Catholic
Endure Dinish was the defensive line coach under Cross at Kennedy Catholic when Huard attended. He’s now the associate head coach at Kennedy.
“It was Cross’s second year when Sam arrived,” Dinish said. “We all grew up together and changed the culture together. The cohesiveness of it all just couldn’t have been more perfect.”
To start off Huard’s junior season, Kennedy Catholic played their first game at CenturyLink Field, the home of the Seattle Seahawks, in a nationally televised game on ESPN. Coming into the game, Huard was the No. 1 pro-style quarterback in his class. Power 5 offers and national attention started to pour in.
But even with Huard blowing up on the national stage, Dinish saw Huard lead with his actions.
“When you have a kid that gets recognized and decorated with all these accolades and awards, but you see him working hard as everybody else, that makes everybody else have to follow,” Dinish said.
In a lot of ways, what happened at Kennedy parallels what’s happening at Cal Poly.
“[Huard] entered high school with expectations like you could see he’s going to be really good, but it wasn’t like when he got to high school he wasn’t ready to just win all the time,” Cross said. “We had to work to get better.”
As Huard started to improve year after year, so did Kennedy.
“As he got better, the team got better,” Cross said. “That’s when we became a championship program.”
It seemed like destiny that Huard would commit to the University of Washington. As a freshman, Huard was named an All-American. According to Cross, in the following year, he threw for the most yards in the whole country.
Once Washington offered him a scholarship, Huard shut down his recruitment, and he committed on Dec. 16, 2020.
Huard played at Washington for two seasons. But Chris Peterson, the coach who recruited Huard, was eventually replaced by Kalen DeBoer. DeBoer brought in Michael Penix Jr. via the transfer portal to Washington to be his starting quarterback.
Across two seasons, Huard played five games and threw 44 total passes.
Huard doesn’t feel disappointed that his time at the University of Washington didn’t end up working out.
“I know that God always has a plan, and I know everything happens for a reason,” Huard said. “I’m thankful for my time there, but at the same time, I felt really led to go and take a new step in my life and go on a different path.”
Dinish tried to see if Huard would express frustration about the Washington situation, but Huard wouldn’t budge.
“It was always just ‘Coach, no. I’m just going to stay ready. Next man up.’ That was just his mindset every time,” Dinish said. “Clearly, he wants to play, but he’s not selfish. He understands there’s a bigger purpose in the future for him.”
Parallels between Kennedy Catholic and Cal Poly
In terms of Huard’s development, Cross sees a lot of similarities between his time at Kennedy Catholic and Cal Poly.
“I think it’s very similar that timeline,” Cross said. “You’re a redshirt sophomore, and this team has a bunch of young dudes, and you can see that guys are starting to make plays and get more confident. You can see that buzz starting to happen.”
In his first season, Huard, who still has two more years of eligibility, finished with 2,247 passing yards, marking the sixth-highest total in program history. He also added 184 completions, which ranks fifth in single-season history, and 18 passing touchdowns.
Huard also noticed the similarities.
“Everyone’s really excited about building something special,” Huard said. “I had a great experience with that in high school, going in there with a group of guys around me and a team that was focused on building something. For me and Coach Cross to be able to do that in high school and then now have an opportunity to do it here, it’s really great.”
While the Mustangs only added one extra win compared to the season prior, they demonstrated throughout numerous games their capacity to compete with some of the best in the Big Sky. This conference featured several top 25 FCS programs and four teams that clinched an FCS playoff appearance.
In a game that signaled progress for the Mustangs, despite a 41-30 loss to No.9 Sacramento State on Nov. 11, Huard achieved a notable feat. He broke the school’s single-game completion record with 37 completed passes for 483 passing yards, the second-highest yardage in a game since 2000.
The Mustangs recorded their highest total offense in a single game since 2019, reaching 539 yards.
Huard accomplished this in his inaugural season as a full-time college starter.
“There’s definitely something I’m learning every single week, and the most learning you can have as a quarterback is by getting those game repetitions and being in these situations,” Huard said.
Despite blowout losses in Big Sky play, Huard felt that the team stayed united.
“We’ve had some tough losses, but at the same, it’s like every single game we’re getting better,” Huard said. “We can feel that. The energy is getting better, and the belief is getting better.”
When Huard stepped off the field for the last time at Kennedy Catholic, Cross thought it marked the end of coaching him. However, when Head Coach Paul Wulff brought him on to the coaching staff, Cross had a feeling it could work out.
“When Sam decided to enter the portal, I felt as good as anyone he wanted to come here,” Cross said. “He just needed to see how awesome it is here.”
With Huard on board and a strong incoming recruiting class, Cross envisions Cal Poly taking off. Just as he believed in building something meaningful at Kennedy, he is now bringing that belief to Cal Poly.
“I can see this thing taking off, Cross said. “And I know Coach Wulff can. This is an exciting time to be here.”