Breaking Down the Husky Starting Lineup This Season

Thirty-six players have pulled game-opening assignments for the UW so far.

UW defenders wait to go back in one game day. / Skylar Lin Visuals

Two returning starters were all that remained when Jedd Fisch took over as University of Washington football coach, and he turned one of those guys into a back-up, thus subjecting the Huskies to an almost total makeover.

Nine games into his rebuild, Fisch's team is 5-4 while losing a pair of games that were winnable and two that weren't. Lately, he's been a little more open about the task at hand and the great unknown of having so many new faces in the Husky lineup.

"The most unique part of this year is it's very hard to have expectations because none of these players really played together as a team," Fisch said. "It wasn't a team you were overly familiar with, that we were overly familiar with."

With the Huskies having reached the three-quarters mark of the schedule, and Penn State next up, we take a hard look at how Fisch's starting lineup has played out so far.

To fill out the 22 spots, Fisch and his staff have used 36 players as UW first-teamers -- including four different guys as starting tight ends, with one of them a borrowed offensive guard, and three more players opening at left tackle and three at the safety spot opposite Kam Fabiculanan. Landen Hatchett has opened at two different guard spots.

UW OFFENSIVE STARTERS	UW DEFENSIVE STARTERS
WR -- Denzel Boston (9)	ER -- Zach Durfee (3), Voi Tunuufi (7)
WR -- Giles Jackson (6)	ER -- Isaiah Ward (3), Deshawn Lynch (3)
WR -- Jeremiah Hunter (7)	DL -- Sebastian Valdez (9)
TE -- Quentin Moore (1), Keleki Latu (8), Decker DeGraaf (2), Zach Henning (1)	DL -- Jacob Bandes (8), Logan Sagapolu (1)
LT -- Soane Faasolo (4), Max McCree (4), Kahlee Tafai (1)	LB -- Alphonzo Tuputala (9), Khmori House (4)
LG -- Gaard Memmelaar (8), Landen Hatchett (1)	LB -- Carson Bruener (9), Bryun Parham (1)
C -- D'Angalo Titialii (9)	CB -- Ephesians Prysock (9)
RG -- Enokk Vimahi (8), Landen Hatchett (1)	CB -- Thaddeus Dixon (9)
RT -- Drew Azzoparid (9)	NB -- Jordan Shaw (6)
QB -- Will Rogers (9)	S -- Kamren Fabiculanan (9)
RB -- Jonah Coleman (9), Cam Davis (1)	S -- Makell Esteen (3), Cam Broussard (5), Vince Holmes (1)
Season-long starters in bold face type

Eleven players, or half of the starters, have opened all nine Husky games, five on offense and six on the other side of the ball.

Sixteen of the players who have started games are seniors, meaning people should expect plenty of turnover for the UW lineup next season, as well, if not another deep scouring of the transfer portal.

In sending out starters, Fisch's staff has had to get creative at tight end, replacing original starter Quentin Moore with Keleki Latu, one senior for another, and turning to freshman Decker DeGraaf and redshirt freshman offensive guard Zach Henning whenever the Huskies have used a double tight-end formation to open.

Linebacker Khmori House and DeGraaf are the only true freshmen who have started.

Redshirt freshman offensive tackle Soane Faasolo and junior safety Makell Esteen opened the season as starters, got injured and recently returned to the lineup a second time as first-teamers before going out again.

Ten of these players have made their college starting debuts (excluding JC ball) for Fisch in wide receiver Denzel Boston, offensive tackles Max McCree, Kahlee Tafai and Faasolo, offensive guards Gaard Memmelaar and Hatchett, safety Vincent Holmes, House, DeGraaf and Henning. It's been a process.

"Defensively, we had a lot of guys we didn't know in a system we hadn't run in college," Fisch said. "The foundation is being laid on how we want to play the game."

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