Husky-ASU Game Turned Into Freshmen Orientation
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The schedule said Pac-12 road game at Arizona State. Upon closer inspection, the University of Washington football team also used the desert outing for freshman orientation.
Midway through the second quarter last Saturday in Tempe, the Huskies sent first-year defensive tackle Jayvon Parker and fellow rookie safety Tristan Dunn onto the field at the same time.
This wasn't mop-up duty by any means. These were two teenagers entered into battle out of necessity.
The Kalen DeBoer coaching staff needed the extra bodies to offset a spate of injuries watering down the defense. It also fully operates under the assumption that if you're on the UW roster, you better be ready to play at all times.
Parker, the healthy half of a set of twins from Detroit, hardly looked overmatched as he came up with a pair of tackles.
Dunn, a 6-foot-4, 186-pounder once committed to Arizona State before flipping to the DeBoer-led Huskies, looked physical enough as he brought down a Sun Devils ball-carrier.
Two months earlier, the 6-foot-3, 312-pound Parker seemed totally lost as fall camp opened. As UW players paired up to do stretching exercises, he stood there all alone, an odd man out, not exactly sure what to do. His brother Armon, who arrived in Seattle while dealing with an unspecified injury, couldn't bail him out. Finally, a support staffer came over and provided assistance.
Parker went on to receive the precursory freshman blowout minutes late in games against Kent State and Portland State. Yet with injuries thinning the ranks, the Huskies needed the young defensive lineman to step up and take his turn with everything still on the line against Arizona State.
The Michigan native passed his first big test swimmingly, according to UW co-defensive coordinator Chuck Morrell.
“Jayvon, out of necessity, went from being on our scout crew, but doing some great things," Morrell said. "I think he twice was our scout team player of the week. Just watching his maturity and development, we needed him on Saturday. I go back out and look at the film, and, for a true freshman, he did a fantastic job. He was gap sound, pressuring the quarterback at times. To me that’s really exciting for the future.”
The Huskies ran into similar issues in the secondary, with safety Asa Turner coming off an injury and expected to play a lot of minutes against the Sun Devils. Yet Turner was called for targeting in the second quarter and banished for the rest of the afternoon.
Enter the 6-foot-4, 186-pound Dunn from Sumner, Washington, who previously had appeared on special teams and, similar to Parker, had received early season scrimmage time with the outcome long decided.
He looked confident as he roamed the back row and mixed it up with ASU.
“Tristan Dunn is incredibly athletic, very, very talented, very gifted,” Morrell said. “He did some great things for us on special teams, and hopefully we can have his role grow. He’s the one that’s got to do the most work in terms of understanding alignment, assignment, technique all the time. But he showed some big-time flashes, especially on special teams, on Saturday.”
From DeBoer's first freshman class, the coaching staff also has utilized cornerback Jaivion Green from Houston for meaningful plays in four games; edge rusher Lance "Showtime" Holtzclaw from Mesa, Arizona, on special teams and a few defensive plays in a pair out of outings; walk-on kicker Grady Gross from Scottsdale, Arizona, as the kickoff man in every game except the opener; and wide receiver Denzel Boston from Puyallup, Washington, in a reserve role against Portland State that brought him a short touchdown run and his first college reception.
The only true freshmen who haven't played for the Huskies are the injured Amon Parker, also a defensive tackle; tight end Ryan Otton, a product of Tumwater, Washington, and the brother of Cade who was injured on the first day of fall camp and hasn't seen game action; and offensive lineman Parker Brailsford from Mesa, Arizona, who was the lone freshman to participate in spring football and likewise hasn't played in a game yet.
Freshmen can play in four games without losing any eligibility. Some of the Huskies, such as Green, will reach this limit and not play again until next season.
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