Demond Williams Jr. Among QBs Who Could Be Boom Or Bust

The Husky quarterback, for all of his positives, remains a question mark nationally.

Demond Williams Jr. turns to hand off during spring ball. | Dave Sizer photo

A month from the opening of fall camp, the University of Washington football team tends to show up on the cusp of the Top 25 by relying on a number of foundational pieces.

The Huskies have an aggressive defense with promise, led by its linebackers. Four returning starters on the offensive line. Plenty of accredited tight ends.

However, the lynchpin to this group remains the impending play of quarterback Demond Williams Jr.

As he goes, so will the Huskies.

Demond Williams Jr. lets one fly in the Spring Game. | Dave Sizer photo

Williams brings his elite speed to the coming season, but he doesn't have a track record yet in terms of winning the big one, of making the best decisions and eliminating glaring mistakes against teams such as Ohio State, Michigan and Oregon.

As rightly he should, UW coach Jedd Fisch praised Williams' spring performance as 15 spring practices came to an end.

"I thought he had a fantastic spring in terms of how he's throwing and how he's building and we're asking him to do certain things this spring," Fisch said. "We're treating it like a driving a range, like test a club here and test a club there, and at the same token continue to grow and see how good you can be. "

Yet at the same time, neutral observers such as a group called Saturday Blitz tend to offer a more cautious outlook, lumping Williams with nine other QBs nationally that it has in a boom or bust category.

Demond Williams Jr. (1) and Denzel Boston share in a Big Ten Network TV interview at the UW Spring Game. | Dave Sizer photo

"Last season in his first full year as the starter, Williams put together some monster performances with his special ability to make plays with both his arm and his legs," Saturday Blitz sized up. "However, he struggled in Washington's biggest games. If Demond wants to establish himself as one of the top quarterbacks in college football, he’ll need to build on what he did last season and show up when it matters most."

He is not alone in this make-or-break-it quarterback pool. Others mentioned are players returning to the same team in Michigan's Bryce Underwood, Oklahoma's John Mateer, UCLA's Nico Iamaleava, Pittsburgh's Mason Heintschel, Kansas State's Avery Johnson and Texas' Arch Manning.

Add to them the following transfers in DJ Lagway, who moved from Florida to Baylor; Katin Houser, who left Michigan State for Illinois; and Austin Simmons, who departed Ole Miss for Missouri.

The Huskies, under Fisch, have systematically prepared for this moment after giving the reins to Williams at the end of his freshman season and watching him have a relatively solid sophomore showing, though without the signature win over a Big Ten contender.

After his brief flirtation with the transfer portal, Williams carries the added stigma of potentially hearing a much more vocal fan backlash should he not lead the UW past many of the conference big boys.

It's boom or bust for the Montlake quarterback and the Huskies this coming fall. Winning does a lot to make everything else moot.