Inside The Huskies

Demond Williams Jr. Scrambles for Individual Attention

The freshman quarterback gets singled out among the nation's top freshmen.

Dan Raley

Demond Williams Jr. stretches out in UW practice.
Demond Williams Jr. stretches out in UW practice. / Skylar Lin Visuals

College football's latest preseason All-America teams dropped over the past week and current University of Washington players largely were ignored by the experts, for being construed as part of a concentrated rebuild.

Oh, there was one exception, but you had to look close to find him.

ESPN's Tom Luginbill, the network's national recruiting director, named his true freshmen preseason All-America team, choosing a first-team player and an honorable-mention pick at each position -- and he put the Huskies' Demond Williams Jr. as one of his two quarterbacks, backing up Nebraska's Dylan Raiola.

Consider the 5-foot-11, 187-pound Williams now officially has been revealed to the college football world and, if all accounts are accurate, there's no turning back. Word is getting out about this kid, who stands to be an exciting playmaker.

On his first Husky football coach's show with Tony Castricone on Monday, Fisch once more raved about about the first-year player from Chandler, Arizona, putting Williams in a league all his own as a football newcomer.

"He's way ahead of any freshman that I've ever had," the coach said. "Confidence is not a problem."

As the Huskies move closer to their season opener against Weber State, fifth-year senior Will Rogers, the Mississippi State transfer, is considered the starting quarterback, yet Williams appears to be ready to go at any moment if needed -- and he stands to be needed,

Chances are good that Fisch will use both of these signal-callers in most games simply to keep defenses honest and change things up mixing Rogers' proven passing ability and Williams' elite foot speed.

Asked about this two-quarterback possibility after Saturday night's intrasquad game, Fisch shot back, "Why would you ask me that question?" before offering adding with a straight face, "Good question."

The idea of using two quarterbacks could have been a leading reason for Fisch shutting media members out of the last two weeks of practice after letting them see everything throughout the spring and during the first three weeks of fall camp.

When it's his turn to run things, whether that comes this season or next, Williams seems destined as this young quarterback to be a fan favorite because of his dual-threat abilities and a nightmare for opposing defenses trying to contain him.

"H's got that natural moxie," Fisch said on his coach's show. "That's fun, that's fun. I don't think he's ever one time thrown a ball he didn't think would be complete. "

Williams' ESPN recognition likely is just the beginning for a lot of attention that will come his way, much like a heavy pass rush.

For the latest UW football and basketball news, go to si.com/college/washington

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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.

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