Husky Roster Review: Hero of Spring Game Was Fresh Off the Vine

Raiden Vines-Bright made a lot of big plays in the finale, among them an acrobatic TD catch.

Raiden Vines-Bright comes down with an acrobatic touchdown catch in the Spring Game. / Skylar Lin Visuals

Lined up four deep on the sideline at Husky Stadium, the University of Washington's top wide receivers were in street clothes and relegated to watching the Spring Game. Idle were Denzel Boston, Rashid Williams, Omari Clark and Kevin Green Jr., all past or potential starters.

One had to wonder if the short-handed Huskies could actually put enough pass-catchers on the field to generate much offense at all through the air.

Raiden Vines-Bright, however, proved to be more than enough.

The 6-foot-1, 200-pound freshman from Tempe, Arizona, by way of Florida's IMG Academy, emerged from his own injury exile and caught 8 passes for 131 yards, which included a sensational acrobatic grab of a Kini McMillan touchdown throw covering 16 yards.

Showing off all of his athletic ability in a remarkable sequence, Vines-Bright ran into the end zone with fellow freshman D'Aryhian Clemons covering him tightly, went up to high-point McMillan's narrow-space delivery and somehow got a toe inbounds before crashing to the ground.

"We saw that talent when we recruited him," UW coach Jedd Fisch said. "We saw that talent throughout the whole process of his senior and junior years. We've known Raiden for a while now. It was great to watch him come into his own."

Raiden Vines-Bright celebrates his Spring Game touchdown. / Skylar Lin Visuals

This is one in a series of articles -- going from 0 to 99 on the Husky roster -- examining what each scholarship player and leading walk-on did this past spring and what to expect from them going forward.

For the first 10 spring practices, Vines-Bright was virtually invisible. Healthy when it began, he pulled a hamstring and was relegated to treatment and loading and catching balls from a throwing machine for two weeks.

He returned for the 11th practice and immediately dropped a pass from Tulane transfer Kai Horton, which seemed to be the way his spring luck was going..

Decker DeGraaf (86) and Raiden Vines-Bright (7) share in the latter's TD catch. / Skylar Lin Visuals

For practice No. 12, however, Vines-Bright finally caught a 10-yard scrimmage ball from Horton, his first meaningful reception of the spring.

For the 14th practice, which was meant to be a walk-through but turned into a regular session, the first-year wideout really got involved for the first time at the UW. He hauled in passes of 5, 5, 20 and 9, with the last one going for a score against senior nickel Dyson McCutcheon. The freshman also went for 20 yards on a fly sweep.

All of this set him up a very big day in the Spring Game, with Vines-Bright supplying a most valuable player performance that day had Fisch's staff given out awards.

The first-year player came ready to play, emerging with 13- and 19-yard catches in the first six snaps of the Spring Game. Near the end of the opening half, he pulled in 26- and 11-yard receptions on back-to-back plays.

He seemed to let out any pent-up emotion he had built up over his abbreviated spring when he scored and then jumped to his feet, struck a pose, pointed a finger and listened to the 20,000-plus crowd let out a lasting roar.

He impressed a lot of people in a short amount of time.

"Especially for a guy like Raiden Vines-Bright, a freshman who's coming to play in that kind of atmosphere kind of tells us a lot," offensive coordinator Jimmie Dougherty said. "The moment wasn't too big for him. Even though it was a spring game, he turned it up a notch when the light came on."

RAIDEN VINES-BRIGHT FILE

What he's done: If Vines-Bright seemed more than a little excited, he actually was coming off of two injury interruptions in his career. He also missed nearly all of his senior high school season for vaunted IMG following an opening-game 7-catch, 102-yard outing. Previously, he had 101 catches over two seasons for Tempe's Corona del Sol High School.

Starter or not: The third starting receiver spot behind Boston and Williams might be up for grabs, depending on whether Penn State transfer Omari Evans can stay healthy and get in a groove. Should Vines-Bright have more outings like the Spring Game, he won't be redshirting.

IN CASED YOU MISSED IT:

Husky Roster Review: Rashid Williams Is Patient Man

Committed to Texas A&M, Receiver Will Visit UW

Husky Roster Review: Kevin Green Jr.'s Return Was Incomplete