Inside The Huskies

Demond Williams Jr. Draws Second Big Ten Offensive Honor

It was actually the fourth for the Huskies overall, matching two by Jonah Coleman.
Dan Raley|
Demond Williams Jr. was named Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week.
Demond Williams Jr. was named Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week. | Dave Sizer photo

It's clear the University of Washington football team has a lot of offensive firepower. Just check the conference awards roll call.

For the fourth time this season, the Huskies provided the Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week -- only they didn't share the honor this time.

On Monday, UW quarterback Demond Williams Jr. was named as the top conference offensive player and pocketed the reward all to himself.

Previously, the 5-foot-11, 198-pound Williams and running back Jonah Coleman were selected as co-Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week, accepting this accolade with a player from another league team, with Coleman doing that twice.

The Husky quarterback stood alone in the spotlight after throwing for 402 yards and 2 touchdowns and rushing for 136 yards and 2 more scores in a 38-19 victory over Rutgers at Husky Stadium.

Both yardage totals represented career highs for the sophomore from Chandler, Arizona, who was making his eighth UW start.

"It was fun to watch," Husky coach Jedd Fisch said.

Earlier, Williams received the reward on Sept. 22, following a 59-24 win over Washington State in the
Apple Cup, with the signal-caller throwing for four touchdowns and running for a fifth.

His backfield mate, Coleman, was feted following the season opener against Colorado State, when he rushed for 177 yards and 2 touchdowns in a 38-21 victory, and again after facing UC Davis in a game in which he ran for 5 touchdowns in a 70-10 romp.

The Huskies have won this award so many times that Fisch has had trouble keeping track. He thought Williams' latest honor was just the team's third.

"That's pretty good," he said at his Monday media briefing, momentarily stumped. "We've won four? OK, cool."

The Huskies, indeed, have received four of these conference offensive rewards -- which is double the next school recipient, Indiana.

Illinois, Michigan State, UCLA and USC have accepted this honor just once.

Williams moved quickly to make himself a factor in the Rutgers game, if not a feared presence. On the first UW offensive snap of the game from the 7, the swift quarterback tucked the ball under his arm, zipped around left end and didn't stop running until he had gained 42 yards just shy of midfield.

He later added 25-, 30- and 30-yard runs, always keeping the Scarlett Knights on their heels.

In the game's final 18 minutes, he scored on 11- and 7-yard dashes to the end zone and a record-breaking outing was in the books.

Williams' 400/100 game was just the 16th by an NCAA quarterback and his 538 yards of total offense were a school record.

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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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