Newton's Law Is He's Back for More, Always Ready to Compete

The veteran runner carried a sizable rushing load in the Alamo Bowl.

With Cam Davis injured and in street clothes, Richard Newton shouldered half of the University of Washington rushing load against Texas in the Alamo Bowl.

He picked up tough yards when needed most against a long and athletic Longhorns defense, supplying the Huskies with a physical backfield presence in their 27-20 victory.

Walking off the field that night in the Alamodome, Newton was kidded that he had resembled the great Earl Campbell at times with his resolute ball-carrying.

"I always run hard," Newton said in all seriousness.

With spring football practice just around the corner, the 6-foot, 212-pound running back from Lancaster, California, will return for a sixth and final season at the UW seeking more yards and opportunity. 

The guy wearing No. 6 is back for year six not willing to be deep-sixed on the depth chart.

It almost seems as if Newton has been around Montlake forever. He redshirted in 2018 when Myles Gaskin was becoming the Huskies' all-time leading rusher. A year later, he rushed for 10 touchdowns in 10 games while backing up Salvon Ahmed.

Expected to be the focal back in 2020, Newton ran afoul of Jimmy Lake's coaching staff and he appeared in just two of the four pandemic-peak games that season, mostly just sitting and watching.

Back in everyone's good graces, he became the UW starting running back for the first three games in 2021, only to get dinged up, held out and return for one fateful play against UCLA, one in which he caught a 9-yard pass and tore up a knee all at once.

Last season, Newton came off surgery and rehab to find three transfers in the backfield mix in Virginia's Wayne Taulapapa, Nebraska's Will Nixon and New Mexico's Aaron Dumas, along with holdovers Cam Davis, Sam Adams and three Texas backs no longer with the Huskies in Jay'Veon Sunday, Caleb Berry and Emeka Mega.

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SOUTHERN COMFORT / USA TODAY Sports

Dillon Johnson, formerly of the SEC and Mississippi State, brings career totals of 229 carries for 1,198 rushing yards and 11 TDs, averaging 5.2 yards per carry, and 149 catches for 864 yards and a score.

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CALIFORNIA DREAMIN' :: Joe Camporeale/USA TODAY Sports

Entering his fifth UW season, Cam Davis from Upland, California, brings career totals of 209 carries for 903 yards and 15 TDs, averaging 4.3 yards per carry, and 38 catches for 278 yards.

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FIG NEWTON :: Darren Yamashita/USA TODAY Sport

Back for a sixth Husky season, Richard Newton, another California, has career totals of 224 carries for 971 yards and 14 TDs, averaging 4.3 yards per carry, and 12 receptions for 119 yards and 2 scores.

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DESERT DISCOVERY :: Patrick Breen/USA TODAY Sports

Daniyel Ngata, an Arizona State transfer whose brother Ariel was a UW linebacker, has career stats of 136 carries for 689 yards and 6 TDs, averaging 5.1 yards per run, and 14 catches for 98 yards.

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HUSKER TO HUSKY :: Joe Nicholson/USA TODAY Sports

The Nebraska transfer has a Montlake season under his belt and Husky totals of 21 carries for 89 yards and 2 scores, averaging 4.2 yards per carry, and 7 catches for 66 yards, plus a 5-yard reception for the Cornhuskers.

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FAMILY TREE / Skylar Lin Visuals

The third Sam Adams, following his father and grandfather who played in the NFL, has UW stats of 13 carries for 40 yards, averaging 3.1 yards per run, and 5 catches for 35 yards and 2 scores.

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NEXT GENERATION / Bakersfield

Tybo Rogers is an early enrollee from Bakersfield, California, where he rushed 164 times for 1,756 career yards and 11 TDS, averaging 10.7 yards per carry, and had 61 catches for 1,118 yards and 13 scores.

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REMEMBER ME / New Mexico

The one-time New Mexico transfer redshirted for the UW after arriving with career stats of 136 carries for 658 yards and 2 scores, averaging 4.1 yards per carry, and didn't catch a pass for the Lobos.

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This spring, he'll be joined in the competition by two more transfer backs in Mississippi State's Dillon Johnson and Arizona State's Daniyel Ngata, as well as touted California recruit Tybo Rogers. (Check out the current competition and everyone's stats in the accompanying photo gallery).

Newton never seems fazed or put out by the long list of candidates who continually line up in the Husky running-back competition.

He likes to think he brings something notably different than the others, that he's a "violent" runner. Kalen DeBoer's coaching staff, in particular offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb, has welcomed the persistent Newton and his approach, and suggests he has become a better fit for them as a receiver and a blocker.

Chris Petersen and Jimmy Lake tried to make Newton into a star, but DeBoer's staff seems content to use him when and wherever needed.

While his grand opportunity to become the showcase runner in Montlake may have come and gone, the UW likely will rely on him once more as a role player this coming football season and try to squeeze as many of those tough and violent yards out of him as it can.

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