Inside The Huskies

Jonah Coleman Indignant Over Watch-List Exclusion, Gets Positive Feedback

The Husky running back comes off an exemplary season at Arizona in 2023.

Dan Raley

Jonah Coleman brings a big reputation to the UW backfield.
Jonah Coleman brings a big reputation to the UW backfield. / Skylar Lin Visuals

A general lack of preseason attention hadn't been totally unexpected for a University of Washington football team going through a significant revamp, namely the absence of any discernible top 25 team rankings, playoff forecasts or individual accolades for the Huskies.

For the most part, it's been met by a collective shrug in Montlake.

That is until last Sunday, when junior running back Jonah Coleman apparently had enough of being ignored by the experts himself and, unlike many of his Husky teammates, let everyone knows that it matters.

With three cryptic words, the Arizona transfer posted the following on social media: 0 watch list.

As in no Doak Walker, preseason All-America or Big Ten mention for the 5-foot-9, 229-pound Coleman, who led Arizona in rushing last season and has been described by his coach Jedd Fisch as one of the nation's top running backs.

Coleman might have a real solid case for being indignant at his exclusion from outsider exposure. After all, he rushed 128 times for an Arizona-best 892 yards, which penciled out to healthy 6.8 yards per carry, second in the Pac-12. He rushed for 179 yards on just 11 carries at Colorado against Deion Sanders' team and he shredded the USC defense for 143 yards rushing in Los Angeles.

"I think Jonah is a great running back, but if any advice I can give him or any advice I can give to any of my teammates is don't listen to the noise because it like doesn't matter," quarterback Will Rogers said. "Nothing anybody says on Twitter or anything you say on Twitter is going to help you win a game on Saturday. "

Coleman heads up an impressive looking UW running back corps that also includes sixth-year senior Cam Davis, coming back from a knee injury that made him miss the 2023 season; freshman Adam Mohammed, who is expected to play a significant amount this fall; senior Daniyel Ngata, formerly a part-time Arizona State starter; junior Sam Adams, who has drawn a lot of spring and fall carries; and freshman Jordan Washington, who might be the fastest of all of these guys.

Yet all is not lost in Jonah's world as others apparently have been paying attention to what he can and can't do with a football tucked under his arm.

Letting four days for Coleman's message to sink in, Pro Football Focus on Thursday responded with an assessment that had to be much more to his liking, when PFF analyst Dalton Wasserman wrote, "This dude is a monster. He's as physical as any back in the country."

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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