5 UW Spring Football Position Battles to Watch
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Once they shake the sand out of their toes, rub some cream on those sunburns and swap spring-break stories, University of Washington football players will get back to work on Wednesday with the first of 12 remaining practices.
While this is a veteran team with 14 starters returning, we see five extra competitive position battles in particular to focus on before everything is declared a wrap with the April 22 spring game.
Like a Kalen DeBoer practice, we won't waste any more time here and just get right to it.
Cornerback
Last season, the Huskies weren't able to establish a durable lead cornerback. Coming off three 2021 starts, veteran Mishael Powell could have been that guy, but he got hurt in the third game of the season, missed five outings and he's now a nickelback.
Next up is Jabbar Muhammad, who comes to the Huskies from Oklahoma State, where he started all 12 games last season for a 7-5 team and came up with 9 pass break-ups, an interception and a forced fumble.
With all of his experience, the compact 5-foot-9, 185-pound Muhammad — think Bookie Radley-Hiles — should have a leg up on the competition, which initially might involve sophomore Jaivion Green, junior-college transfer Thaddeus Dixon and a host of freshmen, except for one minor detail.
Muhammad wasn't quite ready to go when spring football began during the first week of March, nursing some minor ailment that prevented him taking part in the early scrimmage segments held. The Huskies need to keep him healthy.
Linebacker
We're going to make Edefuan Ulofoshio the starter at one Husky inside linebacker spot right now. Doesn't matter that he hasn't been healthy enough to be a first-teamer in nearly 18 months. He's that good and he's back.
No, it's the other linebacker spot that could prove to be a most curious situation.
It has a returning UW starter in Alphonzo Tuputala, a former USC first-teamer in Ralen Goforth and one-time Husky starter and one-time starter and Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Week in Carson Bruener.
Whomever emerges from those three to open alongside Ulofoshio certainly will have earned it.
Running Back
Newcomers in Arizona State transfer Daniyel Ngata and touted freshman Tybo Rogers showed up for the beginning of spring ball earlier in the month and took a lot of reps in the backfield, seemingly at the expense of returning veterans Cam Davis, Richard Newton, Will Nixon and Sam Adams. The idea is to get a look at the untested first.
Add to this mix an SEC battle-tested back in Dillon Johnson, the Mississippi State transfer who will join everyone for the final dozen practices.
Davis, coming off a 13-touchdown season and entering his fifth season at the UW, clearly is going to play. Whether he starts or not is another story.
With 149 career catches over three seasons, Johnson has more than starting Husky wide receivers Rome Odunze (122) and Jalen McMillan (119). He's also going to play.
The battle here might be for starter among Davis and Johnson and third back that includes everyone else.
Right Guard
Three offensive-line jobs conceivably are open to competition. None will be more fierce than right guard where the Huskies have pitted Julius Buelow against Geirean Hatchett.
One's a former 2021 starter turned spring reclamation project versus groomed player seemingly ready for his breakthrough moment.
The Huskies are trying to rebuild the confidence for the mammoth 6-foot-8, 310-pound Buelow, a junior who opened at left guard for the first five games of 2021 before getting replaced in the lineup by not one but two players.
The 6-foot-4, 297-pound Hatchett is a sophomore who appeared in all 13 games last season, used as a guard, special-teams player and makeshift tight end. The Huskies are going to have a hard time keeping him off the field.
Cornerback
Providing Muhammad stays healthy and claims one corner spot, the other will go to sophomore Elijah Jackson, Dixon the JC transfer, or reporting-for-duty freshman Caleb Presley among any one of a number of other first-year players.
Jackson, who likewise has had difficulty staying healthy, was singled out for his offseason workouts, which included a 40-inch vertical leap.
Presley, locally produced and one of three incoming freshman corners, will be the only one of the newly signed participating in spring ball. Could he be good enough to emerge from the corner contenders with a first-unit job?
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