Huskies Enter Opener With One Big Question Mark

The defense comfortably runs two-deep with experienced players at most positions.

The offensive line is one of the biggest in the country.

The quarterback is one of the fastest in the nation.

If there's a question mark hovering over this University of Washington football team as it heads into Sunday's season opener against Washington State in the Apple Cup at Husky Stadium, it's at running back.

A year ago, this was the Huskies' strongest position coming into the season, occupied by hard-charging Jonah Coleman, who's now threatening to start as a rookie rusher for the Denver Broncos, and he was backed up by promising young Adam Mohammed.

In his wake, Coleman ultimately left behind a bunch of untested young guys and others trying to overcome injuries and return to form, with Mohammed inexplicably transferring to California.

Already, UW coach Jedd Fisch is suggesting the UW will rely on a committee of backs to get the job done. It begins with second-year Quaid Carr, who's appeared in just two Husky games and rushed four times for 14 yards, followed by Oregon transfer Jayden Limar and Troy transfer Trey Cooley.

"Quaid, Jayden and Trey will all get significant work," Fisch said this week. "Quaid certainly has deserved the starting role based on all of the reps he took in the spring and in training camp and really being the lead back."

Jayden Limar, the Oregon transfer, can expect to be among the UW's top three backs. | Dave Sizer photo

From last season in the higher scheme of things, Carr represents the fourth UW back, following the graduated Coleman, the departed Mohammed and the injured Jordan Washington, out with a neck injury.

Limar comes to the Huskies with just three starts behind him with the Ducks. Cooley, who missed all of last season with a knee injury, has started just once in his college career at Louisville, four stops ago.

"Those three guys have earned the right based on how they're playing to be the top three guys," Fisch said.

Of all of the Husky rushers, only the 5-foot-11, 210-pound Cooley has a 100-yard game to his credit at the college level, picking up 112 yards against Boston College as a freshman way back in 2021.

To be the No. 1 guy, Carr has put on roughly 15 pounds to fill out a 5-foot-11, 190-pound physique. He has long-distance sprinter speed. He just needs to show he's ready to carry a big load and be productive as a Big Ten back.

Yet it would be unfair to suggest that he will simply step in and do everything the determined and well-seasoned Coleman did before him.

Trey Cooley is in the UW running-back mix after missing last season because of a knee injury. | Dave Sizer phot

The Husky running back approach certainly will be different than it's been in recent seasons, which involved Coleman as the main man for two seasons and Mississippi State transfer Dillon Johnson in 2023 becoming a workhorse runner.

It'll more resemble 2022, when Kalen DeBoer took over as coach and installed Virginia transfer Wayne Taulapapa as his No. 1 guy and also fed the ball generously to Cameron Davis, Richard Newton and Will Nixon.

"We're going to have to figure out a rotation on committee, much more than we did last year with Jonah," Fisch said.

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