Demond Williams Jr.'s QB Coronation: Fun in the Sun

The New Year's Eve weather in El Paso, Texas, was comfortable, 62 degrees and sunny, downright balmy.

For the Sun Bowl, University of Washington football players came out early wearing sunglasses, T-shirts and shorts to loosen up, meditate or simply soak up the desert climate at a stadium carved into a rocky hillside looking out on Mexico.

Demond Williams Jr. felt right at home in these arid surroundings. His family residence was just over 400 miles west up Interstate 10, in Chandler, Arizona, in the southern Phoenix suburbs, in an extension of this sprawling and rugged Southwest landscape.

For this reason, there was every expectation this freshman quarterback, making his second consecutive start for the Huskies, would play well against the Louisville Cardinals in the 91st rendition of the country's second-oldest bowl game.

After a momentary hiccup at the outset, the 5-foot-11, 187-pound Williams settled in and did just that. He enjoyed one of the finest postseason performances engineered by a UW quarterback, exciting the masses back home and intriguing the casual football fan watching on CBS-TV just about everywhere else.

He did everything but win this holiday football game, but even the outcome -- a 35-34 Louisville victory -- wasn't determined until the final nine seconds.

UW quarterback Demond Williams Jr. and wide receiver Giles Jackson meet with the media after their 35-34 Sun Bowl loss. | Dan Raley

With all of the growing interest currently surrounding Williams following his stirring Sun Bowl performance, we're taking a look back at each of his 13 freshman game appearances and what happened. This is the final installment. What he did, especially in Texas, was most encouraging for the future of Husky football.

"He'll just get better in every phase," UW coach Jedd Fisch said. "He'll get better in football knowledge of understanding coverages and being able to get the ball out quick. ... He'll continue to own the zone-read game so he'll be able to make the run game really challenging on our opponents in the future. We'll be able to study and research variations in our offense. We'll be able to add more to our offense."

For three hours in the border checkpoint town, Williams had Louisville back on its heels, trying to guess what he might do next. Yet there was a clear pattern to his football madness.

He threw four touchdown passes -- all to senior wide receiver Giles Jackson -- covering 40, 49, 31 and 1 yards, while completing 26 of 32 throws for 374 yards. He also ran the ball 20 times for 48 yards and scored on a 7-yard scamper.

True Freshman Demond Williams put together a breakout performance in just his 2nd start.

Williams totaled 422 yards and 5 touchdowns.

He should be one of the top quarterbacks in the country next season.

pic.twitter.com/Gt97xtFGxm
— WestCoastCFB (@WestCoastCFB) December 31, 2024

Williams should have been named the Sun Bowl Offensive Most Valuable Player, yet the votes were collected from participating media members in the press box midway through the fourth quarter, with the UW trailing 35-21 at that juncture, and the award went to Louisville quarterback Harrison Bailey somewhat by default.

The freshman was scary good, so effective in fact that he turned up on multiple top college quarterback lists for 2025 immediately following the game. Add to that Fisch making some rather bold proclamations in his postgame interview in El Paso, suggesting that his young quarterback would be a worthy Heisman Trophy candidate and a possible first-round draft pick someday.

Naturally, more than one UW supporter in the the Sun Bowl aftermath wondered aloud what's to stop a powerhouse program from coming in and taking this playmaking signal-caller away from the Huskies once he's fully developed. The quarterback, however, has maintained he holds a fairly strong bond with his coach, one that made him ask for his scholarship release from Arizona and follow Fisch to Montlake without giving it much thought.

"That's my guy," Williams said of Fisch. "He's always been there. He offered me as a freshman [in high school] and that kind of stuck with me. ... And him having that experience and pro knowledge to develop me to be the best quarterback I can be."

Demond Williams Jr. (2) runs away from a Louisville tackler in the Sun Bowl. | GABY VELASQUEZ/ USA TODAY / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

While there was a fast and furious finish to his Sun Bowl outing, Williams had to pay for his youthfulness early on. On his third snap of the game, he lobbed a pass into the left flat that Louisville cornerback Tahveon Nicholson intercepted and returned 21 yards for a touchdown, with only the victimized quarterback between him and the goal line.

After trading punts, the UW tied the game at 7 in the opening quarter when Williams beat that same Nicholson with a looping 40-yard strike to Jackson, with the Cardinals defender getting injured on the play and was done for the day.

The rest of the opening half was an absolute offensive shootout, with Williams and Bailey trading touchdown passes, and the Husky quarterback answering another Bailey scoring toss with his TD run over the right side with 51 seconds left in the half, leaving the game tied at 21.

After the break, Louisville made the Huskies punt twice and scored on its first two third-quarter possessions to take control of the game at 35-21, but Williams wasn't anywhere near done. He came up with an intriguing finishing kick to make things interesting.

Looking every bit like a veteran quarterback, Williams drove the Huskies 97 yards in 13 plays for his third TD pass to Jackson, a 31-yarder, bringing the Huskies within 35-28 with 3:42 remaining in the game.

Following a timely 3-and-out stop by an otherwise generous defense, Williams moved the UW 62 yards in 13 plays in a hurry for another score. He was sensational while spinning out of the pocket and running into the arms of a defender only to somehow lob the ball to Jeremiah Hunter for a 33-yard gain to the Louisville 8.

You live and die with a guy like Antonio Watts.

Whiffs massively on the Demond Williams touchdown only to come back and make the game winning play.

Love this dudepic.twitter.com/JWNXbFGV4h
— Jacob Lane (@JacobLane08) December 31, 2024

Twice he converted on fourth-down plays on this drive, including finding Jackson in the back of the end zone from the 1 to pull his team within a point. Feeling momentum on his side, Fisch had the Huskies go for the win with a Williams conversion pass aimed at Hunter, but Louisville linebacker Antonio Watts alertly reached up to deflect it, ending the closing heroics.

With the exception of his last pass, Williams left the Texas desert feeling sort of invincible. The Huskies went home thinking they had their quarterback for multiple seasons to come. Now if they can add a lineman here and a receiver there, and rebuild the defense, UW football could enjoy a fairly exciting and successful run behind this kid.

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