Husky Receivers Walk Off with a Practice Win

The UW pass-catchers responded to the defense briefly claiming a big battle.

Keith Reynolds (15) makes a UW practice catch with Giles Jackson nearby. / Skylar Lin Visuals

Following Saturday night's football scrimmage -- where just a handful of touchdowns were scored over 120 plays -- it was fairly safe to say the University of Washington defense was ahead of the offense.

On Tuesday, the Husky wide receivers tried their best to narrow the gap.

Late in the Huskies' 11th fall practice, sophomore Denzel Boston did his part by coming back to catch a ball literally off the back of standout cornerback Ephesians Prysock, turning the sensational play into an 11-yard score from Will Rogers.

Three plays later, freshman pass-catcher Audric Harris took a short pass from freshman Demond Williams Jr, took a direct hit from sophomore hybrid safety/linebacker Tristan Dunn behind the line of scrimmage and bounced off, and skirted upfield for a 23-yard gain before getting shoved out of bounds at the 12.

On it went, with the volume levels of pads popping and players talking increasing, especially when senior receiver Giles Jackson got hit at the goal line simultaneously by linebacker Alphonzo Tuputala and safety Peyton Waters and got in with a 13-yard touchdown reception.

Rashid Williams was next, back for just a couple of practices after dealing with an unspecified injury, and he got open the back of the end zone to catch a 6-yard TD pass from Williams.

As practice started to near an end, the contact became a little more fierce and the conversation went up yet another notch.

"Today, I saw a different receiver group than I've seen all camp," UW receivers coach Kevin Cummings said. "They were flying around, they were physical and we were talking some stuff, which I love to see."

In successive plays, Husky defensive tackle Sebastian Valdez dropped Cam Davis for a 1-yard loss and raised a fist as he got off the ground, and offsetting penalties were called, with nickelback Jordan Shaw found guilty of a face-mask call, seemingly sending momentum to the defense again.

Yet the grand finale was coming -- with two plays summing up everything for the two-and-a-half-hour workout.

Rogers sent one into the end zone for Boston, but senior cornerback Thaddeus Dixon broke it up and came away yelling his head off, something along the lines of how the offense simply shouldn't try to test him.

He was loud, confrontational, if not a little cocky.

Dixon's upper hand lasted all of two snaps.

The scrimmage portion of the day came to a close when Rogers lobbed one over the defense to the back of the end zone and into the waiting hands of the aforementioned Giles Jackson, who gathered the ball in for a 6-yard touchdown catch.

Making the play even more meaningful, Dixon, barely done celebrating his previous success, was the victim, arriving a step too late.

Jackson was engulfed by all of the offensive players who were on the field and came off the sideline to share in the moment.

Barely noticeable was Dixon sort of slinking away in silence but not before sophomore offensive tackle Drew Azzopardi ran up to him and slapped the top of the cornerback's helmet, as if to say we won that one.

"I saw a ton of personality," Cummings said of his pass-catchers. "What they did with that personality is they went out there and made a ton of plays."

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