Kris Hutson ends 'up-and-down' college career with Arizona football

The journey for football players after high school can have many wild turns.

Kris Hutson signed with the Oregon Ducks in 2020 after he was originally committed to USC. Five years later, Hutson is in Tucson playing for the Arizona Wildcats after transferring to the UA in December.

The former four-star wide receiver from Compton, California, endured a season with pandemic-influenced restrictions for his first college football season, saw the rise of NIL, played a combined five seasons at Oregon and Washington State and is playing his last college football season in the infancy stage of revenue sharing.

Hutson called his college football journey an “up-and-down” one.

“A lot of people ask, ‘How do you feel about transferring between three schools?’” Hutson said. “My vision is that you gotta do what makes you happy. At the end of the day, you gotta move where you’re needed. That’s what I did and just kept the wheel rolling.”

Playing football “was a big deal in my family,” said Hutson, who realized at 10 years old that football could be used as a vehicle to get away from the challenges of living in Compton.

“When I realized my dad was actually taking time out of his day out of work to take me to practice,” Hutson said. “That’s when I was like, ‘OK, I gotta start taking this serious.’ ... I envisioned myself being in that spot and having the chance to change my family life coming from a city where it’s not easy to make it out.

“There’s a lot of struggles, but you gotta find a way and that’s what I did and that’s what I’m going to continue to do, find a way to get my family to a better spot. It was kind of hard growing up in Compton, but it’s hard everywhere, so you just gotta keep pushing.”

In addition to playing football growing up, Hutson also ran track, where he developed his speed to be a high-level slot receiver. Hutson is one of many additions in the transfer portal who come from track backgrounds. Track “does translate to football and gives you a different type of exposure,” Hutson said.

Hutson finished his high school football career at St. John Bosco High School and helped the Braves win a national championship in 2019. Hutson was teammates with quarterback DJ Uiagalelei and former UA running back Rayshon “Speedy” Luke. Hutson was Trinity League rivals with Arizona quarterback Noah Fifita, former wide receiver Tetairoa McMillan, linebacker Jacob Manu and tight end Keyan Burnett, when all of them were sophomores at Servite High School.

In three seasons at St. John Bosco, Hutson had 148 receptions for 2,491 yards and 31 touchdowns, before he signed with Oregon’s 2020 recruiting class, a group headlined by current UA reserve linebacker and former five-star recruit Justin Flowe, who transferred to Arizona in 2023.

In 39 games at Oregon, Hutson had 80 catches for 936 yards and two touchdowns, then transferred to Washington State and had 54 receptions for 683 yards and two touchdowns. Hutson played against Arizona twice at Oregon and had three catches for 80 yards — 60 were from Oregon’s win over the Wildcats at Arizona Stadium in 2022.

Due to relief from the pandemic-influenced season and a redshirt season in 2023, Hutson had a sixth year of eligibility, but re-entered the transfer portal for the second time of his college career. The 5-11, 174-pound Hutson committed to Arizona on the same day as Wake Forest hiring former Washington State head coach Jake Dickert.

Arizona head coach Brent Brennan cited the “Bear Down Brotherhood” as a key component to landing Hutson.

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“It is something you feel when you’re around our team,” Brennan said. “I think it’s one of the reasons these guys chose to come here. Maybe not the only reason, but I bet that’s part of it, how the players on the team made them feel about being here. I think that’s a special thing about Arizona football.”

Hutson was also eager to learn from Arizona wide receivers coach Bobby Wade, who said Hutson “is super natural and fluid and does a lot of good things” at slot receiver.

“Obviously he played in the league for eight years, so he has the knowledge and knows what it takes to be in the NFL,” Hutson said of Wade. “I just want to be a sponge and soak it all in, so I can play in the NFL.”

Hutson, Chattanooga transfer Javin Whatley, New Mexico transfer Luke Wysong and redshirt senior Jeremiah Patterson are among the players rotating at slot receiver. Hutson has been a starter alongside redshirt junior Chris Hunter III and Kansas State transfer Tre Spivey III in the receiver trio. The Wildcats have used other receiver combinations, but Hutson is a consistent starter.

Hutson said the new journey in Tucson “has been great so far,” and the receiver is taking advantage of the off-the-field advantages that come with being a Power 4 football player.

“Meeting new people with different connections after football,” said Hutson. “When you’re done with football, there’s certain connections you make with certain people in your lifetime you can go off of. You can be very successful in life just based on the connections. That’s what I really wanted to take advantage of, the connections.

“When I go from school-to-school, I’m not just getting by and getting through, I’m actually talking to people and making connections, making stuff work and knowing I have a life outside of football. ... Knowing it’s my last year, I really want to really crack down on the connections and getting to know everybody and their background.”

Spring transfer portal window approaching

Wednesday marks one week until the spring transfer portal window opens for football players.

The transfer portal officially opens on April 16 and closes for new entries on April 25.

It’s inevitable that several Arizona players will enter the transfer portal. Most of them will leave the UA due to their position on the depth chart after the spring. That group could potentially include players who transferred to Arizona after the 2024 season.

“I hope that our players stay,” Brennan said. “I think we have something really special going and they feel it, they believe it. But you just never know. You don’t know who is reaching out to them behind the scenes, (direct messaging) them or back-dooring those conversations.

“Our biggest thing, is that we over-communicate with our players and those channels of communication are extremely open and they know where they stand with us and we know where we stand with them. That’s the healthiest way we can attack it.”

Photos: Arizona Wildcats workout for a spring practice at Arizona Stadium