Midseason Report: How UW Wide Receivers Grade Out

The latest Husky trio wasn't going to top their predecessors.

Denzel Boston (12) and Giles Jackson (5) have enjoyed similarly productive receiving seasons. / Skylar Lin Visuals

Last season, they either played behind or against NFL-bound Rome Odunze, Jalen McMillan and Ja'Lynn Polk, and now Denzel Boston, Giles Jackson and Jeremiah Hunter have their jobs as University of Washington starting wide receivers.

So how's that working out?

Just a sophomore, the always promising 6-foot-4, 207-pound Boston has burst onto the college scene as a high-level playmaker, with his 9 touchdown catches over seven games ranking him second in the nation.

A sixth-year senior, Jackson has become a full-time starter for the first time in his career and midway through this season he leads the Huskies with 47 receptions, which are 19 more than any of his previous full seasons.

Hunter, however, largely remains a distinctive afterthought in the UW passing game, with the California transfer and fifth-year senior consistently turning up as the fourth receiving option behind his fellow wideouts and tight end Keleki Latu, barely resembling the 62-catch performer he was in 2023.

For these notable increases and decreases in individual output, the Husky receiving corps deserves no better than a B grade at the midseason mark. Like so much of this UW team emerging from the shadows of a national runner-up finish, this position group is good, but not great such as their forebears.

Now these guys, as a collective group, were never going exceed the output of their high-level Husky predecessors, who finished with 206 catches for 3,358 yards and 27 touchdowns over a 15-game season.

Boston, Jackson and Hunter, through seven games so far, have combined for 107 receptions for 1,319 yards and 12 touchdowns. Only their catches come at a comparable rate to Odunze and Company.

Named to the Biletnikoff Award watch list just this week, Boston, with his combination of length, speed and hands, looks like an NFL player waiting to happen if he continue to fill out his frame, pile up big numbers and, most of all, stay healthy.

Denzel Boston (12) and Jeremiah Hunter (1) share a Husky Stadium moment. / Skylar Lin Visuals

In reaching the end zone at such a prolific rate, which overshadows anything his one-time Husky teammates and predecessors did, Boston is holding steady at 40 catches for 540 yards, which computes to 13.5 yards per grab.

Jackson, getting his first sustained chance to catch passes, sits at 47 catches for 542 yards and 2 scores, with a third TD nullified by penalty,

A UW official signals touchdown for Jeremiah Hunter. / Skylar Lin Visuals

Hunter just hasn't been able to land a big role in the Husky offense, twice getting shut out on game day, and coming up with a modest 20 catches for 237 yards and a score so far. This is a guy who caught 143 passes at Cal in an offense less pass-oriented. It's unclear whether the Huskies look for him enough or he just doesn't get open.

Behind this trio are redshirt freshman Rashid Williams, who came up with a late TD catch at Iowa, his career first; freshman Audric Harris, who played 22 snaps against the Hawkeyes, a career high; and redshirt freshman speedster Keith Reynolds, who has blazing speed but been more preoccupied with returning kickoffs.

Boston remains the crown jewel of the UW receiving corps and he has two more seasons in Montlake if he chooses to use them. Yet if he keeps developing his pass-catching gifts, the NFL it seems could come calling on him well before then.

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