Inside The Huskies

For UW's Coleman This Spring, He'll Encounter Occasional Rest Stop

The Husky running back will take a break at times during practice ball to save wear and tear on his body.
Dan Raley|
Jonah Coleman meets with reporters after spring practice.
Jonah Coleman meets with reporters after spring practice. | Dan Raley

Jonah Coleman was the first one to arrive for Tuesday's University of Washington spring football practice.

On his way from the locker room to Dempsey Indoor, he was in a good mood, greeting everyone along the way.

Once under cover, Coleman plopped own on his back on the artificial surface and began stretching his legs with a thick rubber band as his teammates came in the door behind him.

While he took part in all of the drills, the senior running back basically was relegated to spectator status whenever the Huskies ran scrimmage plays.

Unofficially that day, Coleman ran the football just three times while sophomore Adam Mohammed received 11 carries and redshirt freshman Jordan Washington rushed the ball nine times.

The veteran back watched as the elusive, young Washington took off on a 60-yard touchdown run and moments later snapped off a 24-yard gain before scoring again from 3 yards out.

Coleman wasn't in trouble, injured or taking a backseat to anyone. This was just prearranged time off from some of the grind for the hard-running Husky, whether he wanted it or not.

"I'm a competitor," he said. "I like practicing. I actually love practicing. I love football. Being held back can be kind of rocky."

Jonah Coleman takes his turn at UW spring practice.
Jonah Coleman takes his turn at UW spring practice. | Skylar Lin Visuals

This past season, the workmanlike Coleman packed the ball 193 times for 1,053 yards and 10 touchdowns, and got so dinged up the coaching staff sat him down late in the season in games against Iowa and Penn State when they got out of hand.

With Coleman having an exceptional offseason by remaking his body -- dropping his weight from 236 to 222 pounds and his body fat from 16.8 percent to 14.2 -- the coaches figured it would be overkill to make him run the ball a lot this month.

Whenever possible, he'll be rested this spring. He's come to grips with that.

"I kind of understand I kind of earned it," Coleman said. "So I just concentrate on the details and the controllables."

To get the latest UW football and basketball news, go to si.com/college/washington

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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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