Huskies Still Need a Lot of Work Following Scrimmage

Jedd Fisch's team was a slow starter before putting up 5 touchdowns.

Keleki Latu (85) catches a ball in front of linebacker Bryun Parham. / Skylar Lin Visuals

Two weeks before the real thing, the University of Washington football team went through dress rehearsal on a hazy Saturday night in Montlake. The immediate reviews: these Huskies still need a lot of work, especially on offense.

With 3,000 or 4,000 fans in the stands, likely well below fund-raising expectations as well as the spring game turnout, the UW didn't score a touchdown until the fifth possession -- and it took a defensive play to put those points on the board, with Carson Bruener picking up a kickoff fumble and returning it 14 yards to the end zone.

By the time the heavily scripted, 90-minute scrimmage was over, with threatening clouds and possible lightning moving in, the Huskies had generated five offensive touchdowns, three on medium-range passes from Mississippi State transfer Will Rogers, with two going to California wide receiver transfer Jeremiah Hunter.

First-year UW coach Jedd Fisch, who seemed satisfied with what he saw, was asked what was the biggest question mark now surrounding his team, just 14 days before playing Weber State in the season opener at Husky Stadium.

"How we play as a team," the coach responded. "How many of these guys have played together? This is a brand new team, brand new group of guys working together, from all different areas, from all different teams, from all different experiences. We're going to playing young, old, new Washington players, old Washington players. How we play as a team will be the key."

Fisch treated the whole scrimmage game outing like he would the real thing, putting his players up in a hotel the night before, sending them through a pre-game meal and opening with guys who all have been starters together for the better part of a week now.

As fans filed in, some of them having made donations for the name, image and likeness collective, the mood was festive. A 30-person band and full set of cheerleaders were on hand, as was the UW mascot, both canine and human all dressed up. Music played loudly throughout warm-ups and the game snaps.

Ironically, the people in charge of the pregame tunes played the Led Zeppelin song "Whole Lotta Love" shortly before kickoff -- and lead singer Robert Plant was maybe 20 miles away providing a concert with Alison Krauss at the Chateau Ste Michelle Winery in Woodinville.

Maybe the most consistent player on Saturday night, and throughout all of the fall workouts so far, was junior place-kicker Grady Gross. He made three of four field goals, converting from 37, 47 and 50 yards while missing a 47-yarder. All of his makes cleared by a wide margin.

Bruener, who doubles as a starting linebacker, was part of a group that ran into what appeared to be walk-on Ryder Bumgarner, though his his number was obscured by a yellow vest, the. ball came out and the senior alertly scooped up the ball and scored.

Shortly before intermission with a running clock in use, the Huskies scored on three consecutive plays. Cam Davis followed offensive Gaard Memmelaar into the end zone from 6 yards out. Returning the ball to the same scrimmage spot, Rogers lofted a TD pass to senior Giles Jackson in the right corner, beating freshman safety Rahshawn Clark, who had the receiver closely guarded. On the very next play, Rogers looked left and found Hunter in the back of the end zone, with Clark again the victime, in position but unable to prevent the catch.

Hunter later got behind redshirt freshman corner Curly Reed III and freshman safety Rahim Wright for a late scoring catch.

Inside the final two minutes of action, the Huskies had their only real setback of the evening, with freshman wide receiver Kevin Green Jr. going down with some sort of leg injury. The newcomer needed to be helped off the field with the assistance of a pair of trainers, unable to put any weight on his injured hinge.

Freshman running back Adam Mohammed continued to impress, snapping off a 23-yard run, while sophomore receiver Denzel Boston made a sensational one-handed catch of a Rogers ball for a 25-yard gainer.

Fisch's team will take the next two days off from practice before he brings them back on Tuesday to begin game preparations for Weber State, With closed workouts, media members and probably most team followers have had their last glimpse of the Huskies until the opener.

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