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Inside The Huskies

Big Ten Picks Coleman As Co-Offensive Player of Week -- Again

The Husky running back shared the honor with Michigan State quarterback Aidan Chiles this time.
Dan Raley|
Jonah Coleman breaks through UC Davis arm tackles.
Jonah Coleman breaks through UC Davis arm tackles. | Dave Sizer photo

His football team can't get an Associated Press poll vote over two weeks, but Jonah Coleman is doing his best to put his name out there and keep it there.

For the second time in two weeks, the University of Washington running back was named co-Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week, this time sharing the honor with Michigan State quarterback Aidan Chiles.

The 5-foot-9, 220-pound Coleman from Stockton, California, was rewarded once more for scoring five rushing touchdowns in the Huskies' 70-10 bruising of UC Davis, finishing with 111 yards on 15 carries.

That's a touchdown every third rushing attempt. He has seven TDs this season, two more than anyone else in FBS football.

Also, the East-West Shrine Bowl selected Coleman as its national Offensive Player of the Week for his weekend outburst.

The reason for Coleman's increased output in a season's time is fairly obvious, according to UW coach Jedd Fisch.

"The O-line is better," the coach said. "The wide receivers are better blockers. The threat of a quarterback who can run changes the way defenses play you. Those are all things that go into the success of a running back."

Against greatly overmatched UC Davis, Coleman scored on runs of 15, 1, 9, 7 and 5 yards before calling it a day with 11-plus minutes remaining in the third quarter.

The Huskies were leading 49-10 when the veteran back gave way to sophomore Adam Mohammed, who had a 14-carry, 95-yard, 1-touchdown performance.

Overall, Coleman has 360 all-purpose yards for the UW, rushing 39 times for 288 yards; catching 2 passes for 46 yards, and returning a kickoff for 26 yards.

He ranks third nationally in that category, trailing a couple of wide receivers in Illinois' Hank Beaty, who has 390 yards, and Virginia's Cam Ross, who has 364 yards, both primarily picking up their yardage by receiving and returning.

In rushing, Coleman ranks third in the nation behind USTA's Robert Henry, who has run the ball 33 times for 336 yards and 4 touchdowns, and Appalachian State's Rashod Dubinion, who has 47 carries for 305 yards and a score.

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Dan Raley
DAN RALEY

Dan Raley has worked for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, as well as for MSN.com and Boeing, the latter as a global aerospace writer. His sportswriting career spans four decades and he's covered University of Washington football and basketball during much of that time. In a working capacity, he's been to the Super Bowl, the NBA Finals, the MLB playoffs, the Masters, the U.S. Open, the PGA Championship and countless Final Fours and bowl games.

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