Banged-Up Huskies Went Through 5 Running Backs at ASU

It's unclear who will be available for the Arizona game.

After University of Washington football games on the road, Kalen DeBoer meets in some sort of obscure room with the assembled media contingent for maybe 10 minutes tops. 

He's also got to address his players, do his prearranged radio segment and get everyone headed to a waiting chartered jet. 

On Saturday afternoon in Tempe, Arizona, DeBoer's media interaction was hardly enough time for him to explain what happened to all of his running backs during the 45-38 loss to the Arizona State Sun Devils. It was a lot.

He went through five of them — from Wayne Taulapapa to Sam Adams II — never using anyone for much more than a half, and not doing this by choice.

"If a guy all of a sudden is not on the football field for us, for our football team, there's probably a reason," DeBoer said. "It's probably health-related."

Taulapapa was the starter, scored a touchdown on a 1-yard run shortly before halftime, rushed a dozen times for 51 yards and was done after the opening series of the second half.

Richard Newton was inserted next and picked up 42 yards on four carries, including a 20- and 16-yard sprints into the open field, but he was finished playing midway through the third quarter.

This made Cameron Davis the Huskies' backfield workhorse and he rushed nine times for 77 yards and 3 short TDs on second-half runs of 4, 1 and 5 in a productive outing. Yet he wasn't able to finish the game either.

Will Nixon entered during the middle of the fourth quarter for a series, caught an 18-yard pass and ran the ball once for no gain, but he didn't come back.

Finally, Adams, a redshirt freshman and the son of a former Seahawks defensive lineman, was on the field when the game ended after having rushed once and caught a pass. He was the last man standing at running back.

"Sam's done a great job, just continuing to grind and work," DeBoer said. "We've got confidence in him, what in the way of the running back room and guys getting dinged up as the game went on."

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WAYNE TAULAPAPA :: Joe Camporeale/USA TODAY Sports

The Virginia transfer has started all six games and leads the Huskies in rushing with 406 yards on 70 carries, and he's scored four times, including once at ASU. He averages 5.8 yards per carry.

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RICHARD NEWTON :: Joe Camporeale/USA TODAY Sports

Newton has played in four games since coming back from a knee injury and seems do more each time, though he didn't finish the ASU game. He has rushed 23 times for 130 yards, a 5.7 per carry average.

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CAMERON DAVIS :: Joe Camporeale/USA TODAY Sports

Davis broke the Huskies' longest run of the season with a 42-yarder at Arizona State. He also leads the Huskies in scoring with 7 touchdowns after picking up three short scoring runs in Tempe. This season, he's rushed 47 times for 245 yards, a 5.1 average.

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WILL NIXON :: Joe Camporeale/USA TODAY Sports

The Nebraska transfer, a redshirt freshman, has been productive when he's been healthy. At ASU, he drew just one series and caught an 18-yard pass. He has season rushing totals of 17 carries for 67 yards for 2 scores, averaging 3.9 yards per rush.

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SAM ADAMS II / UW Athletics

After a pair of injury-riddled seasons, Adams is just now getting a chance to play. The ASU game marked his second career UW game. He has rushing totals of 3 carries for 5 yards and he caught his first Husky pass in Tempe for a yard gain.

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Like all other recent UW football coaches, DeBoer is not going to offer any detail on injuries, but he acknowledged that no one has been lost for the season.

"At some point, you'd like to get everyone healthy and get everyone back," the Husky coach said.

Davis and Nixon previously missed games with injuries. Newton and Adams are just getting a chance to play after coming off long-term injuries. 

Taulapapa?

He's started all six games at running back this season since transferring in from Virginia and leads the team in rushing with 406 yards on 70 carries.

Taulapapa has the single 100-yard rushing performance for the Huskies so far after picking up 122 yards on 13 carries against Stanford.

Yet it remains to be seen whether the senior from Honolulu will be ready to go in Saturday's upcoming game against Arizona at Husky Stadium. 

Or anyone else, except Adams, for that matter.

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