Husky Playing Time Has Become Lot More Precious In Year's Time
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If it's still not obvious to all who are watching everything unfold in Montlake, the competition level inside this University of Washington football team is at an extremely high level.
Against Stanford, Husky edge rusher Zion Tupuola-Fetui made his first start of the season after coming off the bench for three outings, replacing Bralen Trice. This is the same ZTF who was selected first-team All-Pac-12 and third-team All-America in 2020 and turned up in the Top 10 of some NFL mock drafts at some point.
Inside linebacker Carson Bruener continues to play in a reserve role for the Huskies, the same Bruener who started the final five games last season and was named Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Week following the Stanford game played in Palo Alto.
On Saturday night, quarterback Dylan Morris and offensive tackle Vic Curne, both two-year starters entering this season but no longer first-unit players, got in at the end and drew mop-up duty in the 40-22 victory over the Cardinal at Husky Stadium.
Then there was Cam Davis. The sophomore running back didn't play against Stanford. Nothing real unusual there, except seven days earlier he led the Huskies with 17 carries for 69 yards and a touchdown in a 39-28 win over Michigan State. The week before that, he piled up 70 yards and ran for a pair of scores in a 52-6 decision over Portland State. Against the Cardinal, Davis watched.
"He was available," DeBoer said. "For the most part, he could have played. There was a rotation."
In this order against Stanford, the Huskies turned to running backs Wayne Taulapapa, Will Nixon, Richard Newton and even Sam Adams, the latter making his college debut by carrying the ball twice for 4 yards.
Hot hand also plays heavily into this coaching staff's playing-time decisions.
The week before, Taulapapa, the Virginia transfer, took a backseat to Davis and carried the ball a dozen times to Davis' 17 carries, which were a season high for all UW runners.
Yet Davis stood idle as the UW beat Stanford and Taulapapa enjoyed the finest outing for a Husky ball carrier in two seasons, finishing with 13 carries for 120 yards and a touchdown. The newcomer drew plaudits from his coach for his efforts.
"He's such a solid person," DeBoer said of Taulapapa. "So consistent. He's hard-nosed. He comes every day to work. There's nothing flashy about him. Obviously, he was voted captain for a reason because our guys respect him so much."
A sequence of plays shows why. Taulapapa, a sixth-year senior from Hawaii, broke free on a 34-yard touchdown jaunt to give the Huskies a 17-0 lead in the second quarter. On the ensuing kickoff, he was part of the Husky coverage team and, together with teammate Davon Banks, brought down Stanford kick returner Jonathan McGill at the Cardinal 25. That's blue collar.
"I would have expected nothing less of him to grind it out, gut it out and get on the special teams the very next play," DeBoer said.
To be fair to Davis, he might have been a little banged up, though not enough to prevent him from dressing for the Stanford game. The UW also wanted to get Newton into the game now that he's healthy after coming back from knee surgery, plus Nixon returned after sitting out the Michigan State game for unspecified health reasons.
"It was probably the healthiest guys," DeBoer said. "Everyone's got their little dings, not just at running back but with other positions. But that's football. Go with the healthiest guys, especially when you have a room that full of talent."
Like he said, that's Husky football.
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