Long story short, starting QB Desmond Williams announced he was returning to UW a week ago, signed his NIL and then this week announced intentions to transfer to LSU who upped his NIL offer to $6million a year.
Four days after saying he'd return to Washington, Demond Williams has entered the transfer portal per @PeteThamel pic.twitter.com/lVkDukAhcg— Bussin' With The Boys (@BussinWTB) January 7, 2026
He announced this while the team was at a funeral for a UW athlete.
Demond Williams posted his IG farewell during Mia Hamants memorial service at UW that included tons of members of the UW football team in attendance. Colossal prick and massive failure by his PR team— Dave "Softy" Mahler (@Softykjr) January 7, 2026
UW is currently digging their heels in, refusing to allow him to enter the portal and it's now gotten to the point where Williams is now hiring a lawyer to go after Washington.
I have been retained as legal counsel for Demond Williams Jr. We have no public comment at this time. Updates will be provided as appropriate.— Darren Heitner (@heitner) January 8, 2026
And if that name sounds familiar, its because it's the same NIL ambulance chaser that went after VT this year for basically telling players to fuck off when they wanted to get paid despite declaring themselves redshirts and leaving the program. We already had a thread about that.
Oh, and just to show how shitty this is, Williams's agent fired him today.
Demond Williams' agent, Doug Hendrickson of Wasserman Football, cuts ties with Williams. pic.twitter.com/u0nWcTcKei— Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) January 8, 2026
Anyway, this whole thing is a shit show and just more emblematic on how the NCAA has completely failed the schools, players and fans throughout this process.
Update: after all this, he ends up staying at Washington. What a complete and utter shitshow
The Demond Williams saga is now over:He's now announced he's returning to Washington and will remain with the program. https://t.co/JHDW5CZX00 pic.twitter.com/LWPdeoOXtc— Matt Zenitz (@mzenitz) January 9, 2026
Comments
Watch it burn
Williams is about to find out how contracts work in the real world....
I want to believe this to be true, but I have seen so many times where people are just getting away with whatever the fuck they want nowadays and nobody steps in to curtail it. I have every expectation he ends up at LSU this year just like that kid from Wisconsin at Miami
The shadiness and Lane are gonna go together like peanut butter and jelly
Heitner also represented the player that moved from Wisconsin to Miami and unfortunately nothing stopped that kid from playing this year.
Darren Heitner is a leech on the broken NIL system.
In the end, these are the People that are really profiting from this Wild West shitshow---NIL "agents" and "NIL Attorneys"
Also, I'm not sure that Heitner really had much to do with the end result of the Lucas situation. Wisconsin ultimately sued Univ. Of Miami, it's not real clear to me what ended up happening, but I'm sure UM has much more esteemed Council than DudeBro Heitner, Esq.
Heitner represented the player, but he really didn't have to do much as there are no penalties in a system that has no actual rules.
and whatever happened with the Darren Heitner stuff? That story got buried as soon as it surfaced. The last news article I can find is from Oct 1 which didn't have anything new to say about the specific player, and went into more details on the overall situation in college football
Yeah that story disappeared as soon as it popped up. I'm wondering if there was any kind of resolution on it myself
I'm not sure what the "real world" is anymore, but I'm pretty sure that anything within eyesight or earshot of the NCAA is not it...
The NIL bubble is whole entire different kettle of fish.
well this is disgusting from nearly every angle
The only good angle is the agent firing his client. When an agent has more morals...
True. Yeesh
It would be great if we could find out the legalese in those NIL contracts. Are there time windows to change your mind? A payout to the NIL fund if you cancel early, like in this case? Or is it just rather plain that the NIL money gets paid to the athlete while they are a "representative" of the university in question? So many different ways this cat can be skinned, but AFAIK those details have never been made public?
Like HokieRif said in other words...the stench at LaneSU keeps growing and growing!
Like most contract with large sums of money, every one is different. Some have pay out dates and milestones. Some are lump sum at various times. Some have requirements for public face time. All depends on how they are written, and that's why agents and lawyers are involved. Nothing is boilerplate in the NIL landscape.
L. Awyers
A. Lways
W. In
More like LAMM, which I suppose could be interpreted as LAW.
Lawyers Always Make Money. Even when they lose.
Man, when a sports agent cuts ties with you for ethical reasons, you know you're a shithead
What should happen here? Williams should be told he has to play for Washington next year or sit.
What will happen? He will transfer wherever he wants, get paid and after some public outcry about obvious tampering, the school who is paying him will have no actual penalty or consequence.
The really twisted thing here is if Williams is able to pretty blatantly violate a contract without any penalty, then lots of Schools are going to take a serious look at whether this whole NIL system is worth their while. This event could actually be the straw that breaks down this completely broken "system" and could end up costing the players more than it helps them.
Thamel reporting on Gameday that he's likely going to return to Washington
Washington has been in contact with the Big Ten about the situation. The conference drafts rev-share contracts for its league members, and UW described Williams' deal as a binding agreement with the school. Dellenger also reported Washington suspects another school contacted Williams before his announcement.
Also, someone had posted a copy of that B1G contract template on reddit earlier, which i think has a clause stating the institution didn't have to enter an NIL contracted player into the portal
https://www.reddit.com/r/CFB/s/MyYDvPhzNQ
But how can you buile a team around him?
same way the NFL does with hold-outs etc.... let the GM handle contract disputes and negotiations, and the coaches and other players stay focused on playing football
Guess that contract is solid. Officially back to UW
What a bad situation for Washington. Probably going to be tough to get the team to really around this guy.
Also, how iron clad is the contract that the B1G created as a template for the league that Heitner and Williams gave up within hours
Heitner is a step below the grocery store slip-and-fall injury Attorney.
He throws his name into these situations more for his "brand." You are never going to see him inside a courtroom.
The B1G and Washington clearly did their due diligence and hired real lawyers to create a well thought out legally binding contract that left no wiggle room.
I do think it'll be interesting to see how this plays out for Washington, got to think it's going to be a big Lockerroom issue for sure.
Apparently he signed a contract that said the school can restrict your access to the portal. That said, are they going to end up paying 4 million for him to ride the bench?
do holdouts in the NFL ride the bench when they rejoin the team?.. no
Impossible. Their starting QB bailed the second he thought he had more guaranteed money. He prioritized his checking account over the team. UW is going to be an absolute mess next year.
I'd bench him all season and only put him in at the end of 4 games where the game is already in hand so you burn a year of eligibility.
I wish his Twitter post was more truthful and just said: "I got tampered with and wanted that bag, but after my lawyer dumped me and I realized I couldn't transfer to LSU, I am happy to accept the slightly smaller bag from UW, where I'm sure my coach and teammates will not care that I tried to abandon them and look forward to leading them to a 8 win season where we can be home by Christmas"
I think it was his agent that dumped him, not the attorney, but your point is still very valid.
Yeah, I'm sure he's really excited.
Whoever actually wrote that might have been excited.
This lawyer must be so ass, multiple times this year just involving himself in transfer situations and being on the losing end of it each time within hours/days.
I'm not defending THIS lawyer, but I am going to add that lawyers don't control the facts of the case, and sometimes the best advice you can give a client is "Dear client: you're being stupid. Stop being stupid, this isn't fixable. I'm an attorney, not a magician."
It would not surprise me if that was the situation in this particular case.
I wish some people would take this into consideration when advising clients on construction projects. Sometimes it is just not worth it.
Couple of my best friends are lawyers I like to lump them all into the ass category
Just remember - the ncaa and the schools are one in the same. The ncaa is a thing only because school presidents and athletic directors want it to be. The ncaa is nothing but member institutions.
And the schools and courts have stopped the NCAA from doing anything about it (though the ncaa is rarely on top of things so they did not help them selves)
Justin fuente awkward ass photo after Baylor interview energy now that he's staying
So Ross/Godfrey/Staples had a really good take on this whole situation on their yahoo show/podcast. I'll circle back with the link later, but TLDR, this is the system working as designed
So of the players are employees of the B10 then GoR doesn't matter cause if a school leaves the players still work for the Big 10
Eh I see where you're going, but these contracts are mostly single year contracts. When teams leave conferences, those decisions are usually made before the new GoR is signed.
If not clear - I AM NOT A LAWYER
they might be single season now but who knows who some one wants to controll the purse strings when there are changes.
whoa whoa whoa careful throwing that "e" word around
So does the Big 10 become financially responsible for Workmans Comp and other employee benefits? Do those benefits etc costs count towards the Rev Share? Conference quickly deep in the red if they do.
I imagine that stuff would be worked through in collective bargaining and/or some sort of anti-trust legislation.
Yes but its way better for a conference to declare bankruptcy than a school. If the Big Ten goes under then the Big 10 can take its place and if that goes under then the Big 18 is right there and only a small lone to be added if the choose the right font.
As much as I love college football, they really do need to cut the tax-free aspects of this business.