DeBoer-led Huskies Ready to Open Spring Practice on March 30

Fifteen workouts will culminate with some sort of spring game or scrimmage on April 30.
In this story:

After dealing with a losing season and a coaching change — stunning developments that were totally unfathomable a year ago — the University of Washington football team opens spring practice on Wednesday, March 30, looking to put everything back in order and win again.

New coach Kalen DeBoer will welcome 100-plus players to the first of 15 workouts spread over the next month, beginning at 8:30 a.m. that day.

Hoping to make everyone forget a miserable 4-8 season, DeBoer will spend the next four weeks installing a new offense and a defense counter to what the departed Jimmy Lake favored. 

He'll replace Lake's run-first, pro-style attack with a more passing-minded offensive model and tweak a defense that will rely on a customized hybrid safety/linebacker position known as a "Husky" and a rebuilt defensive line.

It's unclear if loud contemporary music will reverberate nonstop throughout each workout at Husky Stadium or the east practice field, which was what Lake made a spring-time prerequisite to keep the energy flowing.

DeBoer will give all of his players a clean slate, though he roughly returns a combined 11 of 22 full-time starters, plus his place-kicker. In all, the new coach has 38 players on the roster who previously have started UW games.

Add to that transfers in Indiana quarterback Michael Penix Jr., Pittsburgh linebacker Cam Bright, UC Davis cornerback Jordan Perryman, New Mexico running back Aaron Dumas and Idaho State punter Kevin Ryan, each well-used starters at their former schools.

One notable change in spring practice is media members will be permitted to watch only the beginning of each session rather than the entire 2-hour and 15-minute  session that Lake enabled. 

Spring football will culminate with some sort of scrimmage, game or competition open to the fans on Saturday, April 30.

Before all that takes place, DeBoer and offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb and co-defensive coordinator Chuck Morrell will meet with the media next Monday to lay out their plan. 

Next Tuesday, NFL-bound Husky players will have their Pro Day in Husky Stadium or the Dempsey Center, with the site determined by the weather.

So Montlake is going to be busy for the next month.

Go to si.com/college/washington to read the latest Husky FanNation stories as soon as they’re published.

Not all stories are posted on the fan sites.

Find Husky FanNation on Facebook by searching: Husky Maven/Sports Illustrated

Follow Dan Raley of Husky FanNation on Twitter: @DanRaley1 and @HuskyMaven


Published
Dan Raley
DAN RALEY

Dan Raley has worked for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, as well as for MSN.com and Boeing, the latter as a global aerospace writer. His sportswriting career spans four decades and he's covered University of Washington football and basketball during much of that time. In a working capacity, he's been to the Super Bowl, the NBA Finals, the MLB playoffs, the Masters, the U.S. Open, the PGA Championship and countless Final Fours and bowl games.