Demond Williams Jr.'s QB Coronation: Small Guy Meets Big Ten

Twelve offensive plays into its historic first Big Ten outing, the University of Washington football team introduced the conference to Demond Williams Jr.

With just under three minutes left to play in the opening quarter against Northwestern, Williams took over on first-and-10 at the UW 43.

It was just a brief exchange. Just a chance for everyone to get acquainted. A one-off on this drive.

Accepting a shotgun snap, the freshman quarterback zipped over the left side for a 5-yard gain in what appeared to be a pre-arranged play, just a little something to keep the opposing side on its toes, and then he hustled back to the sideline.

Northwestern wouldn't see Williams again until the end of the third quarter, when UW coach Jedd Fisch watched starter Will Rogers come up limping and sent the first-year player into replace him.

Demond Williams Jr. shows off his speed at Husky Stadium. | Skylar Lin Visuals

With all of the growing interest currently surrounding Williams following his two late-season starts and a sensational Sun Bowl performance, we're taking a look back at each of his 13 freshman appearances and what happened. This is the fourth installment.

Leading 17-5 with five minutes left in the third quarter, the Huskies ran two plays with Rogers at quarterback calling the shots and building some momentum against Northwestern. Rogers rushed for 5 yards and handed the ball to freshman running back Adam Mohammed for 3 more, and was noticeably limping.

In mid-drive, Fisch changed quarterbacks with his team facing a third-and-2 situation at the Husky 31. He sent Williams onto the field to throw consecutive 12-yard passes to Denzel Boston, each to the left side and each picking up a first down. The coach next had Williams run for 5 yards, hand off to Mohammed for 7 and lose a yard at the Northwestern 34 -- with the first-year quarterback getting dropped for his first career sack.

By now, Rogers was ready to come back in, Fisch swapped out his quarterbacks once more on this drive, and the older player finsihed off the drive he started by putting the Huskies in the end zone four plays later on Jonah Coleman's 8-yard scoring run.

On the 11-play, 77-yard drive that put the UW ahead 24-5 and resembled musical quarterbacks, Rogers drew six snaps and Williams five.

Williams wouldn't play again against Northwestern, finishing 2-for-2 passing for 24 yards and with 9 yards rushing on three carries.

Fisch liked what he saw with his quarterback options before him and the ability to change things up on the fly.

"I just believe if we can continue to play our young guys with our older guys, and remember it's just year one with this team, that everybody is kind of still figuring it all out," Fisch said. "I think we can continue to build into something throughout this process and just get better each week."

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