Huskies Low on Tight Ends, But Fisch Isn't Concerned

Senior starter Quentin Moore had to be helped off the field with an injury in the second quarter.

Freshman tight end Decker DeGraaf celebrates a 33-yard TD catch. / Skylar Lin Visuals

For all of the positives that came out of a season-opening 35-3 win over Weber State, the University of Washington football team might have come away with a few loose ends at tight end.

In the second quarter, Husky starter Quentin Moore had to be helped off the field by a couple of medical trainers after catching a 14-yard pass and taking what appeared to be a helmet to the knee, and didn't return to the game.

At the same time, freshman tight end Charlie Crowell was on the sideline in street clothes, out with a season-ending knee injury suffered this past week, and standing next to sophomore Ryan Otton, who missed all of fall camp with what appears to be an upper-body injury and still hasn't recovered.

The 6-foot-5, 248-pound Crowell from Bend, Oregon, and the 6-foot-6, 251-pound Otton from Tumwater, Washington, both turned up on a first-ever Big Ten injury report released before the weekend games.

Husky coach Jedd Fisch, however, didn't seem all that concerned about Moore's situation, though the 6-foot-4, 257-pound senior from Kenmore, Washington, still will need to be examined closer by the medical staff.

"Quentin's injury, we'll have to look at it exactly, probably [Sunday], once the docs get a look at it," the coach said. "I don't think it's too bad."

In Moore's absence, Fisch's coaches elevated Nevada junior transfer Keleki Latu to the Huskies' primary tight-end role and enabled freshman Decker DeGraaf and senior walk-on Owen Coutts to make their Husky football debuts. In reserve, the coach had junior walk-on Wilson Schwartz available, as well.

"We have four tight ends right now that are healthy and good to go," the coach said. "We've got to figure out exactly what that looks like. But we have flexibility to move linemen out there."

Each of the four tight ends Fisch referenced comes with an interesting back story.

On his first play as a Husky, DeGraaf pulled in a 33-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Will Rogers by getting wide open up the right sideline, making an over-the-shoulder catch on the 10 and scoring without anyone around him.

"He caught a beautiful ball," Fisch said.

Freshman Decker DeGraaf has no one around him as he scores on a 33-yard touchdown pass on his first Husky play. / Skylar Lin Visuals

The 6-foot-3, 240-pound Latu from Sacramento, California, played in his first Husky game, too. He's the younger brother of Laiatu Latu, the former UW edge rusher who became a consensus All-America selection last season at UCLA and is now in the NFL.

Coutts, a 6-foot-4, 230-pounder from Seattle, hadn't appeared in a regulation football game since he was a sophomore at Ballard High School in 2017, instead choosing only to run track. A player with great speed, he was converted from wide receiver to tight end by Fisch's staff during spring football practice.

The 6-foot-3, 249-pound Schwartz, the son of a UCLA ophthalmology professor, rejoined the Huskies this season after playing for Jimmy Lake UW teams in 2020 and 2021, but not for Kalen DeBoer the past two years.

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