Inside The Huskies

Fisch Won't Reveal His Starting QB Before UW-Oregon Game

Demond Williams Jr. is a strong candidate after being named Big Ten Freshman of the Week.

Dan Raley

Huskies quarterback Demond Williams Jr. takes off against UCLA and has been named Big Ten Freshman of the Week.
Huskies quarterback Demond Williams Jr. takes off against UCLA and has been named Big Ten Freshman of the Week. / Steven Bisig-Imagn Images

Three days after leading the University of Washington football team to 17 second-half points and a 31-19 victory over UCLA, quarterback Demond Williams Jr. created big news and no news for the Huskies.

On Monday, the 5-foot-11, 187-pounder from Chandler, Arizona, earned Big Ten Freshman of the Week honors, the second such UW player to receive this conference accolade, joining first-year linebacker Khmori House, who was feted following the Northwestern game.

Then there's the matter of whether Williams or senior Will Rogers will start against No. 1-ranked and unbeaten Oregon (11-0 overall, 8-0 Big Ten) on Nov. 30 in Eugene.

Regarding Door No. 2, Husky coach Jedd Fisch said everyone is just going to have stay tuned.

"We will not announce anything," Fisch said at his Monday media briefing. "We will not announce who the starting quarterback will be. We'll go out there a week from Saturday and play with one of the two quarterbacks."

Williams, who appeared in the first 11 games in a reserve role, put himself into the conversation to become the UW starter at quarterback after completing 7 of 8 passes for 67 yards and a touchdown, and rushing six times 31 yards, with a long run of 16.

He's been called the quarterback of the future by Fisch, the hands-on starter for the 2025 season.

However, with Rogers' recent struggles and Williams' steady progression, the order of signal-callers easily could change for the Oregon game, which will require the UW to pull out all stops on offense in terms of deception and speed.

Rogers, the Mississippi State transfer, has started 51 games in the SEC and now with the Huskies combined, but has run into a rough patch in which he was replaced at halftime of the UW-Penn State game two weekends ago with his team trailing 28-0 and he came out in favor of Williams with the Huskies up 14-13 and Rogers having thrown interceptions on consecutive series.

So now the Huskies will go through two weeks of practice, maybe a half dozen workouts in all, and choose between Williams, who would be making his first college start, or Rogers ,drawing his 52nd game-opening assignment.

It's enough to keep Oregon and everyone else guessing.

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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