DeBoer Practically Cleared the Bench Against Colorado, Used Whopping 79 Players
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You might have been in your car on the 520 floating bridge, trying to get a head start on traffic leaving Montlake. Or buying one last hot dog at Husky Stadium before the place shut down for the winter months. Or watching the commotion before you but not totally sure what was happening.
Against Colorado in the brisk November evening chill last Saturday night, Kalen DeBoer and his University of Washington coaching staff sent 79 players onto the field in the 54-7 dismantling of the visiting Buffaloes.
That's more players than the Huskies typically travel with on the road.
DeBoer has made it clear he not only wants to reward little-used players for their devotion to the program when applicable, and give them memories, he wants to turn his inexperienced Huskies into guys who are ready to play extended minutes when their time is called.
"We've got to build that depth all across the program, because I just feel that there's a weakness where we don't have that depth across a lot of spots, " DeBoer said earlier in the year. "It doesn't mean we don't have the players; it means there's not a lot of experience beyond the starters in the amount of football they've played."
For those keeping score at home, 93 of the 116 players on the roster have appeared in at least one Husky football game in their careers. Of the 23 still awaiting their UW debuts, seven of them are scholarship players
Against Colorado, seven Huskies played in a game for the first time in true freshman tight end Ryan Otton, younger brother of Cade from Tumwater, Washington; redshirt freshman tight end Caden Jumper from Eatonville, Washington, and son of Brandon, once the state's all-time leading high school rusher and a former Oregon fullback; walk-on true freshmen linebackers Austin Harnetiaux and Griffin Miller, the latter from Sammamish, Washington; walk-on redshirt freshman linebacker Styles Siva-Tu'u, walk-on redshirt freshman place-kicker Addison Shrock and grad transfer punter Kevin Ryan.
Shrock from Bellingham, Washington, kicked the Huskies' final extra punt. Ryan, the Idaho State transfer, handled the UW's only punt.
Harnetiaux and Siva-Tu'u, both from Seattle, picked up their first career tackles, as did walk-on redshirt freshman defensive tackle Bradley McGannon, from Yelm, Washington, who previously appeared in games against Kent State and Portland State.
Walk-on redshirt freshman tight end Griffin Waiss, from San Jose, California, and who has appeared in all 11 games this season, caught his first Husky pass for a 21-yard gain.
Maurice Heims, the redshirt freshman edge rusher imported from Hamburg, Germany, played in his fifth game for the UW and had the following stats: 3 tackles, 2 tackles for loss and a sack against Colorado, the first of his career in every category.
Wide receiver Brennan Holmes, from Seattle and one of two walk-on seniors who will be departing the program, ran the ball on an end-around and lost 6 yards against the Buffaloes.
True freshman wide receiver Denzel Boston, from South Hill, Washington, and appearing in his third game, caught his second UW pass, a 5-yarder.
Ulumoo Ale, the 6-foot-6, 340-pound junior and former offensive guard turned defensive tackle, made his first start in his 10th game as a tackler after opening 10 games in the previous two seasons as a blocker.
And finally, redshirt freshman tailback Jay'Veon Sunday, the Waco, Texas, product who played in four games in 2021 and rushed for 10 yards on eight carries, made his season debut against Colorado and broke off a 19-yard run.
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