Want to Score a Husky Touchdown This Season? Take a Seat

More UW reserves than starters have found the end zone so far.

Dan Raley | Nov 7, 2022

For good reason, Cam Davis didn't score a touchdown on Friday night for the University of Washington football team.

He's a starter now.

In case it escaped notice, the Huskies put three six-pointers on the board in their 24-21 victory over Oregon State on Friday night at Husky Stadium — and each came from a reserve player.

Wayne Taulapapa, the man who Davis replaced in the opening lineup for the first time, scored twice on short runs and Jack Westover, the backup or second tight end, caught a 24-yard touchdown pass for the UW (7-2 overall, 4-2 Pac-12).

For Kalen DeBoer's team, it's the keep-them-humble Huskies, where everyone spreads the wealth when it comes to finding the end zone.

This season, 11 different Huskies collectively have scored 45 touchdowns and more than half of them — 26 — have been supplied by individuals who were designated as reserve players at the time.

Davis, of course, scored all 10 of his touchdowns coming into the Oregon State game in a reserve role. Wide receiver Ja'Lynn Polk, who earlier had a 3-touchdown receiving game against Michigan State, didn't start that day, instead giving way to Taj Davis in the lineup.

Taulapapa has 7 scores to his name this season, with the first five coming when he was the No. 1 tailback and the other two coming on 2- and 4-yard runs against the Beavers while checking into the game later.

Wide receiver Jalen McMillan has 6 touchdown catches this season, yet due to fluctuating formations using different personnel each week on the game's opening series, he's started just six of the Huskies' nine games. Half of his TDs have come as a starter, the others technically as a sub.

Add to that UW players such as Richard Newton, Taj Davis, Giles Jackson, Sam Adams and Denzel Boston who also have supplied touchdowns in a fill-in role in a wide-open offense that intends to reward a lot of people with points.

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Published Nov 7, 2022

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.