Energy Levels Not Lacking for Fourth UW Fall Practice

Husky coaches keep the pressure on for players to perform.

Tristan Dunn (12), standing next to Peyton Waters (22), made his first fall camp appearance. / Dan Raley

If it's a rebuild for the University of Washington football team this season, first-year coach Jedd Fisch and his assistant coaches aren't letting anyone in a Husky uniform ease up and consider the possibility.

Four practices into fall camp, the staff seems to get more demanding with each passing two-hour workout.

Consider that safety Tristan Dunn was in uniform on a sunny Sunday after missing the first three practices for reasons not specified.

The 6-foot-4, 191-pound sophomore from Sumner, Washington, a 19-game veteran over two seasons, wasn't involved in the latest workout for more than 15 minutes when he got yelled at twice by his impatient position coach Vinnie Sunseri and directed to take a lap around the East practice field.

Instead of welcome back for Dunn, the message was time waits for no one as Fisch and Company attempt to get the UW competitive again in a hurry after it lost 20 of 22 starters from last season's national championship game runner-up team and underwent a coaching change.

With more than half of the Huskies' 80 scholarship players turning over, and a large contingent of former Arizona players among those filling the vacancies, cliques on the roster haven't been a problem either.

Consider that Arizona linebacker transfer Anthony Ward covered running back Jonah Coleman out in the flat and knocked his former and current teammate off his feet in order to break up a flat pass to him. Coleman didn't like how this play turned out at all, took exception to the physicality of it and started loudly barking at Ward before giving him a healthy shove. That brought several players over, most notably 6-foot-7, 308-pound offensive tackle Drew Azzopardi, the San Diego State transfer, who got in his own shoves while sticking up for Coleman.

While it's not clear how successful this revamped Husky football will be, it should be feisty enough.

On yet another play,, standout sophomore wide receiver Denzel Boston took redshirt freshman cornerback Leroy Bryant into the end zone with his five-inch height advantage on him, but the 5-foot-11 Bryant was all over him every step of the way to break up the pass play, doing everything except draw a flag from the officiating crew working the practice.

"I love the push!" UW corners coach John Richardson shouted out, running to Bryant to let him know he did good. "Play off it!"

Among the more noteworthy offensive plays, freshman quarterback Demond Williams Jr. scrambled to his right until he found junior walk-on receiver Cam Sirmon uncovered in the end zone for a 13-yard scoring pass.

Projected starting QB Will Rogers drilled one into Boston for a score on a slant pass from 4 yards out, threading one delicately between senior cornerback Thaddeus Dixon and freshman safety Peyton Waters.

Williams delivered again after California wideout transfer Jeremiah Hunter went in motion to the left, did a hard stop, reversed himself and got wide open with this move for a 4-yard scoring pass.

Husky safeties Makell Esteen (24), Paul Mencke Jr. (31). Tristan Dunn (12) and Peyton Waters (22) wait in line during a Sunday drill. / Dan Raley

As things turn more physical and the competition levels continue to increase, senior tight end Quentin Moore came out of Sunday with the block of the day. He took out Waters, the aforementioned first-year safety, with a fierce hit that drove the other guy backward and enabled freshman Adam Mohammed to reach the end zone from 3 yards out.

Otherwise, the Fisch staff continued to shuffle lineups, letting players audition with pads on. For instance, Portland State transfer D'Angalo Titialii took several turns at center with the No. 1 offense, a position that could have any one of three players end up as the starter. The edge rushers, of which there are eight or nine with lenghty playing credentials at the UW or elsewhere, rotated in and out at a steady rate and in different combinations.

The Huskies resume fall camp with another practice on Monday morning.

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