5 Overlooked Huskies Who Could Be Honors Candidates

We've found a handful of guys who could emerge well decorated this season.

Washington linebacker Carson Bruener (42) reaches for Texas running back Jaydon Blue in the Sugar Bowl. / John David Mercer-USA TODAY Sports

With fall camp just around the corner, college football's onslaught of preseason lists, forecasts and predictions are beginning to wind down, which really doesn't matter in Montlake because University of Washington football players, after showing up nearly everywhere for accolades a year ago, largely have been ignored.

Generally these rankings involve only players with track records rather than those with potential to be difference-makers. Oh, new Husky running back Jonah Coleman occasionally turns up in the top transfer rankings for what he did at Arizona last season.

Still, it's a little hard to believe the UW and Jedd Fisch's coaching staff don't have a solid number of presumptive honors candidates on the 109-player roster, even if just two starters -- linebacker Alphonzo Tuputala and cornerback Elijah Jackson -- return from the national runner-up team that came home from Houston.

That being said, we've looked at the assembled Husky talent pool and determined that five truly unsung players, and it could be more, will be deserving of some sort of Big Ten attention or better. Some haven't played much. Most haven't started yet. Others are moving up a level and just need to get on the field and see how they match up.

Remember, it wasn't just 22 guys who helped send the UW through a 14-1 season and to Pac-12 championship game and Sugar Bowl victories. Kalen DeBoer left a lot of players behind with winning mindsets.

Zach Durfee

The edge rusher, forced to sit and watch last season because of a misguided NCAA edict and miss half of spring ball with an elbow injury, remains a most intriguing player after he repeatedly was hyped by former edge coach Eric Schmidt and DeBoer all last season for having an elite skill set for someone who goes 6-foot-5 and 256 pounds. Fisch's staff didn't hesitate in putting him on the field with the No. 1 defense for spring ball either. Currently as a junior, Durfee has just two starts among 11 games played for Division II Sioux Falls and five plays in the Sugar Bowl against Texas for the Huskies.

Top 50 Defensive Ends Entering The 2024 Season pic.twitter.com/1Js9SwIaFH

— Big Game Boomer (@BigGameBoomer) July 3, 2024

Landen Hatchett

Someday people will look back at the UW center position for the 2023 season and be amazed that Hatchett was only the third-team snapper as a freshman early on behind fifth-year senior Matteo Mele and redshirt freshman Parker Brailsford. That's no slight to either one of those other guys. Brailsford, now at Alabama, very well could become an All-America selection after being named second-team All-Pac-12 in December. No, the 6-foot-2, 310-pound Hatchett, who played in nine games before going down, appears to have the perfect blend of compact size, power and athleticism to excel once his surgically repaired knee is sound again.

Denzel Boston

With uproarious roster turnover, no two strangers during the spring seemed to make more of an instant connection than Mississippi State transfer quarterback Will Rogers and the 6-foot-4, 209-pound Boston. It was one tight-window throw and leaping acrobatic catch after another for these two, who were seen continuously hand-slapping after big plays and chatting each other up whenever possible. Boston with just 7 career catches for 66 yards, patiently has waited for the Odunzes, McMillans and Polks of the receiving world to move on and how it's his time in the UW spotlight.

Huskies running back Dillon Johnson (7) celebrates with wide receiver Denzel Boston (12) after scoring a touchdown in the 2024 Sugar Bowl. / Matthew Hinton-USA TODAY Sports

Drew Azzopardi

This guy was one of the transfer portal gifts left behind by DeBoer, whose staff convinced the nimble and good-sized 6-foot-7, 308-pound Azzopardi to choose the UW over nearly two-dozen other suitors, including Tennessee, UCLA and Arizona. He has 15 games of experience from San Diego State, including six starts to close out last season as a redshirt freshman. He has great feet, which is what made Roger Rosengarten and Troy Fautanu so successful for the Huskies last year. As sophomores, Azzopardi and Hatchett could be offensive-line anchors for the next three seasons.

Carson Bruener

While the other four players on this list each could be construed as sophomores in class standing, depending how Durfee reclaims eligibility, Bruener is the one upperclassman continually overlooked by his past coaches and the college game experts. This fifth-year senior linebacker enters the upcoming season with 39 games played, though just six starts. While repeatedly passed over for starting duty, Bruener has performed well every time he's been in the spotlight. In his first career start against Stanford in 2021, he had a 16-tackle game and was named Pac-12 Defensive Player of the week. He later opened against Oregon and had a 50-yard interception return, against Arizona State and piled up 14 tackles, and against WSU and totaled 11 tackles. This past season, he produced a 14-tackle game against Oregon State in his lone 2023 start, but was named as an All-Pac-12 honorable-mention pick in spite of being a near season-long reserve player, no easy feat.

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