Washington held its second scrimmage of the Spring practice season on Saturday afternoon inside Husky Stadium. It was the final scrimmage before the team takes the field under the lights for the official Spring Game next Friday night. The team unofficially ran over 125 plays. It included a variety of situational snaps, including goal line, two-minute offense, and drives starting at all points of the field.
Stand-Outs from Washington Scrimmage
Havoc Up Front
The biggest stand-outs of the afternoon were on defense. Unofficially, Ryan Walters’ group pulled down two interceptions, swatted six pass breakups, created 11 tackles for loss, and hurried the quarterback seven times. EDGE rusher Jacob Lane stood out early and often up front in the Husky defense. He recorded a pass breakup at the line of scrimmage and a tackle for loss each within the first three defensive drives. Throughout the rest of the afternoon, he also notched two-and-a-half “stops,” which we’ll define as a tackle within the first three yards of the line of scrimmage.
“I felt confident in the way I played today,” Lane said after Washington’s scrimmage. “I worked on my preparation all week, just trying to settle in with all the new scheme we’ve been learning… It’s been paying off.” The EDGE group as a whole had a quality day on Saturday afternoon. Isaiah Ward got his name in the unofficial stat column with two stops, three quarterback hurries, and 1.5 would-be sacks, as the quarterbacks could not be touched. Ward also shared a safety with Arizona transfer Ta’ita’i Uiagalelei during the scrimmage.
“I think we have a lot of good guys in our room. With the amount of talent that we have it just really helps us all push each other to get better,” Lane said of the EDGE rushers.
Defensive Backs Finding the Ball
The defensive backfield stood out during Washington’s scrimmage as well. Tacario Davis played meaningful snaps during the scrimmage after being limited during the previous few practices this Spring. He swatted away two passes on Saturday, and one of them was an athletic play. Davis had inside leverage, and the ball was slightly underthrown. Davis turned to the inside and broke up the pass with his left hand as his back was to the intended receiver. It was a great display of the reach he has with his 6’-4” frame.
One of the two interceptions was pulled down by none other than Rahshawn Clark. The redshirt freshman is up to seven picks this Spring during team periods. Clark has an instinctual reaction to the football in the air, and he displayed it on this play. It was a deep corner route, and Clark was in good coverage. As the football arched down from its flight path, Clark just cut in front of the receiver and pulled it down with ease. Florida International transfer safety CJ Christian had the other interception for the defense. It was a diving effort on an overthrown pass in the middle of the field.
Staying in the defensive backfield, Leroy Bryant blocked a 43-yard field goal attempt, coming around the left side of the line of scrimmage. The batted ball bounced into the hands of Paul Mencke Jr., and he took it the rest of the way for a defensive score. Northern Arizona transfer Alex McLaughlin had two tackles for loss coming from the box safety position. His ability to play closer to the formation is paying off as he’s diagnosing run plays quickly and finding his way into the backfield routinely.
Wide Receiver Stand-Outs
The wide receiver room is not at its full capacity, with Denzel Boston out for the entirety of Spring. Rashid Williams and Omari Evans were not participants in Washington’s scrimmage either, seemingly out with minor bumps and bruises. As such, true freshman Chris Lawson stepped up on Saturday. He unofficially recorded the most catches of the day with seven, and he logged 67 receiving yards and a pair of touchdowns. Lawson’s first touchdown grab was acrobatic, as he spun against his momentum and away from the defender to pull in a pass from Kai Horton. His second came during the overtime period on a dart of a pass from Demond Williams Jr. at the goal line.
Redshirt freshman Justice Williams had a couple of catches for big yards. His first catch of the afternoon was thrown by Dash Beierly. The true freshman quarterback led Williams perfectly as he tiptoed along the sideline, pulling in the pass for a 35-yard touchdown. Later on, he caught another one from Beierly. This time, Williams grabbed a back shoulder throw that he hauled in for 30 yards. Again, it was a really well-placed football from the former Mater Dei quarterback.
Beierly’s former high school teammate, Marcus Harris unofficially caught three passes for 42 yards on the afternoon. That included a 25-yard catch from Horton on a deep post route. Audric Harris had a long, 30-yard reception, and walk-on Jace Burton made five catches for 51 yards. The limitations at the top of the receiver room have allowed the younger players to take meaningful reps this Spring. It’s been an opportunity to evaluate the depth of the position, which is shaping up to have potential.
Quarterback Performance
Beierly made, arguably, the two best throws of the afternoon, as previously mentioned. His placement on the two passes traveling 30-plus air yards did not resemble that of a true freshman. Beierly’s quarterbacking skills playing behind the veterans of Williams and Horton will be something to watch as his career progresses.
As for the starter, Williams had a slow start to the afternoon, but quickly found his footing in the offense. His group began with a three-and-out, but he would finish with unofficially just over 150 passing yards, a passing touchdown, and one interception. Williams’ long pass of the day traveled 30 yards to Audric Harris, who caught it on the sideline and toe-tapped before going out of bounds. The true sophomore signal caller also totaled 30 rushing yards and scampered into the end zone for a rushing score. Williams’s rushing score was a bootleg where he blew past the defenders for a 17-yard score. “He’s definitely quick out there, so you gotta be honest when you’re rushing,” Lane said after practice. “When they’re running boot plays, I gotta really make sure I’m staying flat down the line, not let him get outside of me.”
Horton threw three touchdowns and one interception during the scrimmage. Two of the scores were back-to-back on situational goal-line snaps from the offense. He finished the afternoon with an unofficial 125 passing yards to go with his touchdowns. Horton is the clear number two quarterback for the Huskies. He and Williams took the majority of the snaps and completed roughly the same number of passes during the scrimmage.
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