Huard Either Had a Superlative Day or the Secondary Suffered
It was Sam Huard's turn on Friday to audition for the University of Washington's starting quarterback job. It didn't begin well, but his time in the pocket probably couldn't have ended much better.
On his second snap during the extended scrimmage time in fall practice No. 2, Huard was intercepted by Dominque Hampton, the Husky hybrid player, who made a veteran move over the middle and wrestled the ball away from Ja'Lynn Polk.
The UW defense loudly celebrated Hampton's turnover-producing aggressive style. This chorus didn't last long.
On the very next play, Huard set himself and lobbed a high-arcing strike up the left side to Jalen McMillan, who caught the ball in stride just over the reach of cornerback Mishael Powell and scored from 57 yards out. The play was stunning for the immediate turnaround it produced.
Later, the redshirt freshman quarterback found Rome Odunze pushing and shoving with cornerback Jordan Perryman up the right sideline before they separated and Huard delivered the ball to Odunze, who scored on a 56-yarder though defensive players claimed he first stepped out of bounds.
Even later, Huard threw another high, looping ball that former high school teammate Jabez Tinae ran under and caught behind safety Cam Williams and corner Davon Banks and turned it into a 71-yarder. Banks, by the way, wears No. 10 instead of 16.
While the Huskies had to be pleased with their young quarterback's passing performance, the long balls over a rebuilt UW secondary were a little disconcerting.
"You think about it, this basically is our second time with our guys who are getting involved with the scheme and obviously we're early in camp and guys are going to make mistakes," co-defensive coordinator Chuck Morrell said. "We've got young guys at certain positions who've got to learn — and that's the fastest way to learn."
At their expense, Huard learned how to bounce back from his own adversity with barely blinking an eye.
The quarterback competition, which involves Indiana transfer Michael Penix Jr. and returning starter Dylan Morris, continues to be watched closely.
The more mobile and experienced Penix is perceived as the leader coming into this position battle that will play out for two weeks. Yet coach Kalen DeBoer and his staff are watching everyone's reps very closely. DeBoer, in fact, stood near his QBs to observe and then moved well down the field for a long angle.
Unlike the first day, when rain dampened things a bit, sunshine and a light breeze were prevalent throughout the morning and pad-less practice.
Freshman tight end Ryan Otton and walk-on edge rusher Jake Jennings were the first casualties of fall camp, both left to watch from the sideline with presumably minor ailments from the first day.
Nebraska transfer Will Nixon, a redshirt freshman running back, looked a little exasperated when he got taken off his feet hard by a gigantic rubber ball in a passing drill. The balls are used by coaches to make players change direction or take a tumble.
Penix and Nixon likewise mishandled a handoff that edge rusher Sav'ell Smalls scooped up and ran into the end zone from 14 yards out for a score.
Back-up Husky hybrid Kamren Fabiculanan dove and intercepted one of Penix's passes amid a couple of heads-up plays on his behalf. The player known as Kam Fab celebrated his pass theft with Hampton, with both of them swinging their arms and swiveling their hips, which has been rare for a DeBoer practice session but proved commonplace during Jimmy Lake's tenure.
Edge rusher Zion Tupuola-Fetui had his moments and was credited with touch-sacking Morris on consecutive plays. Yet the animated one was heard exchanging words across the field with a couple of offensive linemen after the other guys supposedly got the better of him on a previous play. Not long after that, the always animated player known as ZTF was heard singing as he walked the sideline.
Practice concluded with players climbing into large gray plastic tubs and sitting in ice baths in the shadow of the south deck.
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