UW Spring Practice No. 8: 6 Defenders Held Out of First Scrimmage

The missing included four defensive backs, including a pair who have worked as starters.

Husky spring football crossed over the midpoint on Friday with its eighth of 15 practices and an initial scrimmage. 

New coach Kalen DeBoer permitted former players, parents, recruits and some high school coaches to watch his players go at it in a game-like scenario, but not the media. He chose to hold off for a week before enabling anyone to critique his installation process, enabling fans and reporters alike to watch the team's second scrimmage on April 23.

Besides DeBoer will need some time to get his secondary back at full strength. 

Four of his defensive backs — cornerback Jordan Perryman and hybrid Husky Dominique Hampton, pegged early as starters, plus back-up cornerbacks Elijah Jackson and Vince Nunley — wore sweats and were held out of Friday's workout, all presumably injured. 

Add to that linebacker Carson Bruener, another starter, who was a spectator for his second consecutive practice, plus defensive tackle Faatui Tuitele, seen riding a scooter and wearing a boot since spring ball began, and that's six defenders unavailable. 

"All of those are just little tweaks," DeBoer said, not referring to Tuitele. "We're just trying to make sure nothing happens. We've still got a lot of practice left. Nothing major."

If there was a tradeoff, redshirt freshman wide receiver Jabez Tinae removed his yellow pullover vest for the first time, seemingly healed from his injury, and took part in his first full practice of the spring. 

Tibez was seen standing in receiver lines behind Junior Alexander, his former Kennedy Catholic High teammate and an Arizona State transfer, catching passes from quarterback Sam Huard, another Kennedy alum, both redshirt freshmen like him.

Corner Kicks

To prepare for the scrimmage, the Huskies spent a lot of time working on special-teams alignments over the first hour of practice. 

At one point, No. 1 kicker Peyton Henry kicked off a tee from one corner of the end zone to walk-on Addison Shrock, who teed it up in the other corner. One of Henry's kick was caught by Landon Hatchett, the nationally recruited Ferndale High offensive lineman and brother of Husky guard Geirean Hatchett, while Shrock sent a kick up the tunnel. 

The younger Hatchett, who carries a 6-foot-3, 285-pound frame, has been a regular practice visitor, showing up no less than four times, when he hasn't been on his own outside recruiting visits. His most ardent pursuers are Miami, Oklahoma, Oregon, Texas A&M, USC and the Huskies.

VIP List

Among those showing up for practice included former Huskies Deontae Cooper and Michael Kniep, now the football coaches at Highline and Bellevue high schools. That makes three ex-players turned coaches who have been on site, with Eastside Catholic's Dominic Daste visiting on Wednesday.

Former Husky quarterbacks Steve Pelluer and Tim Cowan, who went head to head 40 years ago for the starting job stood close to each other on the sideline, along with former UW offensive lineman Bruce Kroon. Pelluer's son, Zeke, is a walk-on tight end and a third-year sophomore.

Former UW recruiting coordinator Dick Baird made his first practice appearance this spring, coming out to watch his grandson Jackson Girouard, a redshirt freshman wide receiver. Ex-Husky defensive-line coach Randy Hart, who worked for five coaches in Montlake, was a return visitor.

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