Washington held their first spring practice under first-year head coach Jedd Fisch in the waning sun on Wednesday evening. It was a sunny, but cold and slightly windy day on the western shores of Lake Washington, but that didn’t keep the new staff and the players from going hard for over two hours on the field.
Everyone wanted to see how quarterback Will Rogers looked in his first snaps as Washington’s quarterback after spending the past three seasons as the starter at Mississippi State. The answer to that question is he looked unfazed and in control of things. He took all of the first team reps and he spread the ball around and was on target most of the evening.
Behind Rogers were freshmen Demond Williams and Dermaricus Davis.
Williams throws effortlessly and his deep ball is about as pretty as it gets. His biggest drawback, if you want to call it that, is his lack of size. He definitely is on the smaller side, but he is a dynamic athlete with a big arm.
We didn’t see much of Davis throwing the ball in team sessions, but he looked solid in skelly sessions and when throwing routes on air. He has a quick release for a long and lanky passer, but it’s accurate and his ball is very catchable.
The main receivers running with the first team were senior Giles Jackson, third-year sophomore Denzel Boston and redshirt freshman Rashid Williams.
Jackson was his typical self, finding soft spots in zone coverage and being a nice dump off pass for Rogers when he could find anyone open down the field.
Williams looks every bit the part of a future star at receiver. He runs smooth routes and he showed the ability to get separation from the defensive backs tasked with covering him.
Boston continues to show a great catch radius and he was able to get open often although he did have a pass ripped away by Ephesians Prysock on a route to the outside.
Along the offensive line, the first unit was manned by Drew Azzopardi at left tackle, freshman Paki Finau was at left guard, Zachary Henning at center, Kahlee Tafai at right guard and Soane Faasolo at right tackle.
All of the linemen traded sides though with Elishah Jackett subbing in at right tackle with the second unit and Faasolo moving to the left side.
At tailback, Jonah Coleman looks like an absolute tank. He’s listed at 5’9″, 225 on the roster and his legs are like tree trunks. He ran the ball well, but the man who really stood out in the backfield was Tybo Rogers. The sophomore from Bakersfield made a couple of nice runs to the outside and exploded up the field. Both caught the ball well out of the backfield.
The tight ends didn’t see a lot of action in the passing game, but Quentin Moore appears to be the leader of the room right now. He and Ryan Otton got almost all of the reps with the first and second team although Decker DeGraaf did get a few reps during skelly sessions.
For his part, Otton looks like he’s added a good 15 to 20 pounds. He was injured for much of last season, but now he appears to be in full health and if he can realize his full potential, that would be huge for the Husky offense.
On the defensive side of the ball, Robert Bala, Washington’s linebackers coach, has a commanding voice. You could hear him getting after his guys on getting lined up correctly and making their reads quickly and then making the play.
Carson Bruener and Alphonzo Tuputala were the two running with the first unit for much of the day in the middle and they looked solid. Freshman Khmori House also got some reps with the first team in skelly and he didn’t look out of place although he still needs to add some more size to his frame.
At EDGE, Washington sent Zach Durfee and Maurice Heims out with the first unit and both looked good making their reads and doing what was asked of them.
Jacob Lane and Lance Holtzclaw were running with the second group and they seemed to have more success getting after the quarterback with Lane getting a sack on Williams.
Along the defensive line, Jacob Bandes and Voi Tunuufi were the two men inside for the Huskies. Bandes looks like he’s in the best shape of his life and Tunuufi, while he won’t impress you with his size, causes a lot of problems up front and he did that quite a bit on Wednesday.
In the secondary, the Huskies put Prysock, a transfer from Arizona, and Thaddeus Dixon out with the first unit and Leroy Bryant was covering the slot most of the day.
Last year’s starter, Elijah Jackson, was with the second unit and he combined with Jordan Shaw to be the two outside players.
The safeties for most of the practice were Kamren Fabiculanan and Makell Esteen, but Peyton Waters also got a long look from the coaches along with Tristan Dunn.
Players who were in attendance at practice, but were working on the side throughout much of the evening were Landen Hatchett, Anthony James, Sam Adams, Caleb Presley, Deven Bryant and Gaard Memmelaar.
In all, Washington’s nearly two-and-a-half hour workout was crisp and there was little in the way of wasted time.
Fisch and his staff and the players will get back to work tomorrow with the start of practice scheduled for 3:30 pm.
© 2005-2024 CBS INTERACTIVE ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. CBS Sports is a registered trademark of CBS Broadcasting Inc.
