Sam Huard is staying on the West Coast, but he’s moving down a level to reunite with his high school head coach.

The former Washington quarterback announced during a Monday appearance on the local “Brock and Salk” radio show that he is transferring to Cal Poly. The move will set Huard up to play with former Kennedy Catholic HS coach Sheldon Cross, currently serving as the Mustangs’ offensive coordinator.

Cal Poly competes at the FCS level. The Mustangs went 2-9 last season, led by quarterback Spencer Brasch. A former Cal transfer ahead of the 2021 season, Brasch started seven games throughout his first year at Cal Poly and was expected to take over as the full-time starter in 2022.

Then-head coach Beau Baldwin elected instead to open the year with a redshirt freshman walk-on, Jaden Jones as the team’s starting quarterback and left Brasch on the bench. Three games into the year, Jones suffered ACL and MCL tears that ended his season and thrust Brasch back into the featured role.

Brasch threw for 2,604 yards and 19 touchdowns while completing 59% of his passes and tossing 13 interceptions. Jones had 655 yards and five scores (with no picks) before his injury.

Baldwin left this offseason to join Arizona State’s coaching staff, replaced by Paul Wulff. Wulff hired Cross to be his new offensive coordinator earlier this month.

Huard will have competition at Cal Poly for the starting job in Brasch and Jones, but he’ll be entering on level footing with the returning Mustang quarterbacks on account of the coaching change. A prior relationship with Cross certainly won’t hurt his chances of winning the battle.

And that’s the main reason the former 5-star recruit and Washington legacy left UW. He said he wanted to play right now.

The 6-foot-2 Huard attempted just 44 passes in two seasons as a Husky. He started in the 2021 Apple Cup, a game UW lost 40-13, and then attempted just two passes this past season.