Baron Naone Pulls Replacement Duty To Put Career In Motion

The University of Washington football team's true freshman breakdown goes something like this: of 28 first-year scholarship players, 12 have drawn game snaps so far, with five pulling starting assignments, and Baron Naone the most recent to take on a new role with everything in doubt.

The 6-foot-4, 250-pound Naone from West Linn, Oregon, was on the field in Saturday's 42-25 victory over Illinois for 10 plays -- blocking on five of them for extra-point kicks -- this after pulling some late snaps at Michigan as an injury fill-in.

He barely had contact with any Illinois players and didn't catch a pass, though he ran through the end zone as an option on sophomore quarterback Demond Williams Jr.'s 6-yard touchdown pass to junior wide receiver Denzel Boston in the fourth quarter.

Yet Naone seemed to have his assignments down and didn't make any serious gaffes in the Huskies' win over Illinois while replacing injured senior tight end Quentin Moore, who was in concussion protocol from the Michigan game.

"He did a really nice job," UW coach Jedd Fisch said of Naone, always pumping up his guys. "He's going to be very good, very ,very good. I think actually he has a ton of potential to be a really good player."

Baron Naone played nearly a dozen plays against Illinois. | Dave Sizer photo

Naone entered on the third play of the game and lined up in an unusual formation the Huskies use infrequently.

Side by side, he and fellow tight end Decker DeGraaf lined up directly in front of Williams at quarterback, leaving enough room for the snap to zip between them, with senior running back Jonah Coleman behind the signal-caller.

Each tight end crisscrossed in the backfield and went looking for someone to hit as Coleman rushed for 8 yards on a first-down play.

Naone drew three snaps on that 10-play, 75-yard opening drive that finished up with freshman wide receiver Dezmen Roebuck catching a 13-yard touchdown pass and bouncing off a pair of defenders and into the end zone.

On his most promising play, Naone ran into the end zone, more as a decoy, while Boston caught his touchdown pass. It might have been the most contact for the freshman tight end all game as he fought with a defender with his hands in trying to get open.

For the Oregon native, this marked his third game appearance, elevated in order to pull snaps in place of Moore, who will return for the Wisconsin game.

It wasn't immediately clear whether the Huskies were going to preserve or burn Naone's redshirt year, but he has at least one more game appearance he can make before his freshman eligibility comes into question.

In Moore's absence the Huskies used Naone plus put back-up sophomore center Zach Henning in a No. 80 jersey and let him handle some of the tight-end blocking against Illinois, too.

"We'll have Quentin Moore back this week, so it will be great for Baron, now that he has some reps, to get all three of them in the rotation," Fisch said.

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