Coming Out of Spring, Huskies Need to Fix Rushing Attack

Yards on the ground came begrudgingly for the UW in its closing scrimmage.

On the first play of Saturday's spring football scrimmage, quarterback Michael Penix Jr. tucked the ball under his arm and skirted the left side for 11 yards.

This was noteworthy because it would hold up as the University of Washington's longest rush of the afternoon, later matched by running back Jay'Veon Sunday.

Eleven yards, tops. 

For two hours and 15 series, yardage on the ground was extremely hard to come by for the UW. Overall, the Huskies tried 24 running plays and generated just 60 yards.

While Kalen DeBoer's spread offense is pass-first, rushing yards are an absolute necessity to make it work.

Sunday finished as the leading rusher in this closing scrimmage with 29 yards on 7 carries, while New Mexico transfer Aaron Dumas added 24 on 11 tries and scored on a 1-yard run.

Not surprising, DeBoer afterward cited the running game — which has been decimated by injuries to a ridiculous amount — as the area most in need of improvement before the season begins some 126 days away against Kent State at Husky Stadium. 

"I think the running back, and we've talked about it from day one before spring ball started, is the health status that continues to be ongoing and fluid," DeBoer said. "That's probably the biggest thing that's in our mind."

As Dumas and Sunday scrapped for whatever real estate they could get, injured scholarship backs Richard Newton, Cam Davis, Sam Adams and Caleb Berry, plus walk-ons Cam Sirmon and Gabe Nelson, all stood together on Saturday as spectators along the sideline, while Emeka Megwa, recovering from a second surgery, presumably was home in Texas. 

Reinforcements are on the way in Virginia transfer Wayne Taulapapa and Nebraska transfer Will Nixon, who will join the Huskies for fall camp.

Here's a scorecard detailing where each of these Husky running backs stands on the first day of May:

Aaron Dumas — The native Texan ran No. 1 throughout spring practice after arriving as a transfer. He started six games and led New Mexico in rushing with 658 yards as a true freshman. In Saturday's scrimmage, he had a tough time finding any running room. He had carries of 2, 1, 1, 1, -1, 1, 2, 2, 5, 1 and 9. He's the only back on the roster with a 100-yard rushing game on the college level, and he has just one, picking up 143 against DeBoer and Fresno State last season.

Jay'Veon Sunday — Another Texan, the redshirt freshman has great speed but he tends to dance around too much rather than hit the hole hard. Last season, he had 10 yards on 8 carries while doing this. His scrimmage runs on Saturday went for 2, 9, 6, -2, 11, 4 and -1. He had a great opportunity to split nearly all of the spring duty with Dumas and needs to take advantage. He's the fastest UW back with a 4.49 40.

Richard Newton — DeBoer said the junior running back, recovering from an ACL tear against UCLA, should be ready to resume in the fall. He started three Husky games last season, the most by anyone on the depth chart. He has career stats of 758 yards rushing and 14 overall touchdowns (including 11 in 2019 as a redshirt freshman), and he threw a scoring pass in the Las Vegas Bowl, the UW's last postseason appearance. 

Cam Davis — Likewise, the sophomore back should be available come fall camp after suffering some undisclosed injury. He has two UW starts, the 2019 Vegas Bowl and last season's Colorado game. He has 381 career yards and 2 TD runs in his UW career.

Sam Adams — The highly regarded Seattle-area back has never really got started in three seasons at the UW, showing up when the pandemic began and being limited by a shoulder injury over two springs now. After a recent practice, Adams was a solitary figure running around orange cones to work on his balance.

Caleb Berry — Yet another Texan, Berry reported to the UW last year for spring practice after recovering from a broken leg that ended his senior high school season early. He came down with COVID right when DeBoer's practices began and had only a handful of carries near the end before watching the final scrimmage.

Emeka Megwa — The most heavily recruited of all these backs, this Texan turned down SEC powers Alabama, Auburn and Arkansas to join the Huskies last fall. He got injured in the preseason with his high school team and graduated a full school year early to come to Seattle and rehab presumably a knee. However, one has to wonder if he's damaged goods now because he's had multiple surgeries and DeBoer said Megwa won't return until after next season begins.

Cam Sirmon — This Sirmon played quarterback in 2021 as a true freshman and a walk-on, and even appeared in the Apple Cup for one offensive snap and some special-teams plays, before making the conversion to running back this spring. He lasted only a few practices before he was helped off with a knee injury.

Gabe Nelson — Another walk-on, he helped take the stress off the few remaining scholarship guys before he, too, suffered an injury and missed multiple practices and scrimmages.

Wayne Taulapapa — He comes to the UW from Virginia, where he was a team captain and a 27-game starter over four seasons, opening seven of 10 games last fall. He brings career totals of 1,192 yards and 19 touchdowns, with a high game of 95 yards against Duke in 2020. However, his role seemed to diminish this past season as he collected just 324 yards and 2 TDs rushing.

Will Nixon — He comes to the Huskies from Nebraska advertised as a running back and wide receiver. He caught the ball only for the Cornhuskers in two seasons, one of which he sat out with a reported ACL injury. Yet another Texan, he ran the ball in high school.

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