After his senior season, Huard was one of the most highly recruited players in the country. He narrowed his selections to the
University of California Los Angeles and the
University of Washington, and made a
New Year's Day decision to follow in the footsteps of his older brother Damon and attend the University of Washington in
Seattle. The decision was eagerly anticipated by more than just the UW coaching staff and fans; it set off a chain reaction in which quarterback
Cade McNown (from
West Linn, Oregon) chose UCLA and
Westlake Village, California wide receiver
Billy Miller decided to go to the
University of Southern California in
Los Angeles (he had said if Huard chose to attend UCLA he would follow). After
redshirting as a true freshman in 1995, Huard was placed into a competition with
Mukilteo's Shane Fortney for the starting quarterback position in the spring. Fortney won the starting job. Huard saw his first career action in the opener of the 1996 season at
Arizona State, led by senior quarterback
Jake Plummer. Huard entered the sweltering night game with Washington down by 21 points and rallied his team to a tie (though ASU won with a late field goal). A week later, Huard played again after Fortney was injured in what seemed like garbage time against
BYU. Huard remained as the starting quarterback and led the Huskies (along with a strong offensive line and Pac-10 Offensive Player of the Year running back
Corey Dillon) to an record the rest of the regular season. While not spectacular in his first year as a starter, Huard showed glimpses of the talent that had made him one of the most highly recruited QBs in the nation two years prior. As a result of internal conflict related to Huard's elevation to the starting position, Fortney transferred to
Northern Iowa following the 1996 season. Washington entered the 1997 season
ranked fourth in the
AP poll and won the first two games handily (over
BYU and
San Diego State). In the third game, eventual national champion
Nebraska beat Washington in
Husky Stadium; Huard suffered an ankle injury early in the game, the first downtime in a career that was henceforth injury-riddled. In addition, it forced true freshman
Marques Tuiasosopo into action and he had to forego his redshirt season. Huard missed more time in 1997 due to injury and the potential national championship year ended with a disappointing 7–4 regular season, concluding with a 41–35 loss in Husky Stadium in the
Apple Cup to Pac-10 champion
Washington State. Though Huard was seen as a highly rated prospect for the 1998 NFL draft, he elected to return for his junior year. Huard's junior season in 1998 began with an improbable win at
Arizona State, but it quickly deteriorated with an embarrassing loss at
Nebraska. Huard went on to set many UW records, but because the Huskies experienced their first non-winning season since
1975, Huard's legacy remains mixed. (Washington finished 6–6 after a loss to
Air Force in the
Oahu Bowl, and head coach
Jim Lambright was fired.) Many fans openly called for Huard to be benched in favor of sophomore Tuiasosopo. Still, Huard held school career marks for most passing yards (5,742), touchdown passes (51), 300+ yard games (4), attempts without an interception (151) and ranks second in 200+ games (14) and total yards per game (191.4). He was also named
Academic All-American his final two seasons. Huard also earned honorable mention All-Pac-10 honors as sophomore and was a finalist for the
Davey O'Brien Award while setting school record with 23 scoring tosses. Huard maintained a 3.6
GPA as a
psychology major. While at Washington, Huard and Molly Hills, a player on the
women's basketball team, got engaged. They met while students at the university. ==Professional career==