Why the Huskies Use 2 Quarterbacks on Game Day

The UW coach was asked about his deployment of both Will Rogers and Demond Williams Jr.

Will Rogers strains to hear the UW coaches over his headset. / Skylar Lin Visuals

With the first half pulling to a close at the Apple Cup, and Washington nursing a 13-10 lead, Husky quarterback Will Rogers took the first snap of a new series and scrambled for a 17-yard gainer.

His immediate reward probably wasn't what he was expecting at all: Freshman Demond Williams Jr. suddenly replaced Rogers, went 3-and-out and the game momentum quickly shifted to Washington State.

The UW ended up giving up a go-ahead score on the next drive to Washington State and its elusive quarterback, John Mateer -- who was working all by himself -- on a 25-yard touchdown scramble coming on a 3-and-20 play, putting the Cougars ahead for good at 17-13.

Husky coach Jedd Fisch, who has alternated his QBs throughout the first three games, has found no fault with his two-player system at such a crucial position. He considers it state of the art talent deployment.

"I think there's a place for that," Fisch said. "I've done it with numerous quarterbacks at numerous places. In this case, this is more of college football 2024, where you've got two really good players and you've got an opportunity to mix and match them a little bit."

To illustrate his point, Fisch told how he was a graduate assistant at Florida when the Gators rotated quarterbacks Noah Brindise and Jesse Palmer, originally a walk-on and a freshman, supposedly every other play in a 1997 game and upset No. 1-ranked Florida State 32-29 (fact check: the Seminoles actually were No. 2 at the time).

In Rogers, Fisch has a savvy, veteran leader who's completing nearly 80 percent of his passes with 6 touchdowns and zero interceptions; in Williams, the coach can turn to a first-year speedster who's averaging nearly 9 yards per carry while hitting on 9 of 12 passes.

The coach, who calls all of his own plays, prefers this change of pace at quarterback to keep opposing defenses honest at all times. He hasn't seen it hurt anyone's production so far.

"Will has zero misses because of it," Fisch said. "It's not like he's come [back] into the game and thrown an incompletion or been out of the game for a couple of plays and couldn't get himself going again."

Rogers, a high school coach's son, is never going to publicly voice any disagreement he might have with sharing the job. However, it should be noted he could barely speak to the media following the 24-19 defeat to WSU, and that was either out of the disappointment of losing or from his frustration with some of the decisions involving him, or both.

Freshman quarterback Demond Williams Jr. is averaging nearly 9 yards per run this season. / Skylar Lin Visuals

Likewise, Fisch said this game-day QB rotation hasn't negatively impacted Williams' abilities during his three Husky outings.

"Demond hasn't really been in a situation where he's got into the game and then kind of fallen off because he wasn't in for 10 to 15 plays before that," he said.

For Saturday's Big Ten opener against Northwestern, Williams can make one more game appearance before he has to give up his redshirt status, which doesn't seem to matter to him or his coach.

Like a mad scientist, Fisch says he simply wants to make maximum use of his wide range of offensive weapons whenever and whenever it suits him and he views his dual quarterback attack with a game on the line has having more upside than down.

"Not so far, I haven't felt that was an issue," Fisch said. "If I felt it was an issue, I wouldn't do it."

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