Huskies Keep Getting Younger, Use 10 Freshmen Against Utah State

More than 50 years ago, the University of Washington used to field a freshman football team separate from the so-called varsity.

Those new guys used to play on Fridays before the big weekend of activity. Mostly, against junior college teams or other freshmen squads. Seldom in front of many fans.

Legendary quarterback Sonny Sixkiller got his Husky career started this way.

Well, it wasn't Jedd Fisch's intent, but two weeks into a new season the Husky coach has had to rely on far more freshmen players than he was planning coming in.

"We are a young football team,' the UW leader has said repeatedly.

Running back Brian Bonner Jr. made his first Husky appearance and initial start, and fellow newcomer Ansu Sanoe came off the bench to make his college debut and score the team's only touchdown in its16-14 victory over Utah State on Saturday afternoon at Husky Stadium.

While the muddled running back situation was well known coming in, with injuries to older players forcing Bonner and Sanue to be called on, the Huskies' receiving corps has taken a substantial hit with starter Christian Moss going down in the opener and fellow first-teamer Rashid Williams next suffering an undisclosed injury against the Aggies.

Trez Davis catches the ball and gets taken off his feet by a pair of Utah State defenders. | Dave Sizer phot

That prompted Fisch's staff to turn to freshmen Jordan Clay and Trez Davis to pull considerable snaps and each caught 4 passes, with Clay's receptions covering 42 yards and Davis going for 44 yards.

"We're playing with guys where this was their first amount of time out there for a lot of them," Fisch said.

Fisch even sent freshman quarterback Derek Zammit, normally the fifth-string guy for the Huskies, onto the field for a surprising fourth-quarter play.

On third-and-1 at the Utah State 35, the 6-foot-1, 210-pound Zammit, heavier than all of the other UW quarterbacks, took a Wildcat snap and rushed up the middle for 2 yards to pick up the first down.

"We felt this was a good opportunity to get Derek's feet wet," Fisch said of his New Jersey import.

On defense, the Huskies went much of the way with three freshman on the first unit, same as the opening game against WSU.

Freshman defensive tackle Derek Colman-Brusa again was hard to block, coming up with 4 tackles and his first career sack, edge rusher Ramzak Fruean had 3 tackles and cornerback Jeron Jones finished with 4 tackles.

Brian Bonner Jr. got his first start and fights his way for a short gain against Utah State. | Dave Sizer photo

After starting the opener at nickelback, Jones came off the bench this time to spend most of the game at corner playing in place of the injured Manny Karnley.

In all, the Huskies used 10 freshmen and started four of them, two on each side of the ball.

Offensive tackle Kodi Greene and Bonner were the freshmen starters on offense.

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