Inside The Huskies

Husky Roster Review: Mohammed Remains Greatness in Waiting

The sophomore running back has shown flashes of what he can do with his power and speed.
Dan Raley|
Adam Mohammed stiff arms his way upfield in the UW Spring Game.
Adam Mohammed stiff arms his way upfield in the UW Spring Game. | Skylar Lin Visuals

Lunch money. Bo Jackson. Next up.

Call him what you want, but Adam Mohammed is probably the most intriguing University of Washington football player who hasn't been totally unleashed just yet.

Easily passing the eye test, the 6-foot, 219-pound sophomore running back has muscles upon muscles.

He runs with power, he runs with speed.

Yet Mohammed waits his turn, waits for senior Jonah Coleman to graduate, waits to get out and run.

"I'm patient," he said. "I'm patient waiting for it day by day."

Demond Williams Jr. and Adam Mohammed, then freshmen of the future for the UW, leave the field at Penn State.
Demond Williams Jr. and Adam Mohammed, then freshmen of the future for the UW, leave the field at Penn State. | Skylar Lin Visuals

Mohammed comes off a season in which he rushed 42 times for 193 yards, with a long run of 32 yards.

Don't be surprised if he pops that top number in a game someday. He's that good. He just hasn't been given the opportunity to show it.

Unlike many of his college football peers these days, he seems willing to just let it happen rather than force the issue in the transfer portal.

Adam Mohammed looks for yards in the UW Spring Game.
Adam Mohammed looks for yards in the UW Spring Game. | 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.

Yes, Mohammed has seen footage of Bo Jackson, running over and past everyone.

Frank Gore, however, is the NFL player he's modeled himself after, someone a little more rugged than flashy, with Adrian Petersen not far behind.

Scottie Graham, the Huskies' running-backs coach and a former Ohio State and NFL back, likes to refer to Mohammed as "lunch money," as something he's got in his back pocket to spend, just in case.

"He's developing," Graham said. "He's strong. He's 5-6 pounds heavier. He's smarter. He knows the offense like the back of his hand."

The Big Ten just doesn't know Mohammed yet, but it likely will get fully acquainted.

ADAM MOHAMMED FILE

What he's done: The Huskies have been saving him yet they haven't been. They used Mohammed in all 13 games as a freshman, burning his redshirt to give him a taste. Just a taste. He didn't run the ball more than eight times in a game, at Penn State. He should be fully ready to go when it's his time.

Starter or not: Last year, Graham said Mohammed could have been a starter for several other college teams, and he wasn't idly making that stuff up. The UW simply has a proven veteran back in Coleman, a 1,000-yard rusher, who remains first up for the Huskies. Mohammed will be that guy someday.

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Dan Raley
DAN RALEY

Dan Raley has worked for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, as well as for MSN.com and Boeing, the latter as a global aerospace writer. His sportswriting career spans four decades and he's covered University of Washington football and basketball during much of that time. In a working capacity, he's been to the Super Bowl, the NBA Finals, the MLB playoffs, the Masters, the U.S. Open, the PGA Championship and countless Final Fours and bowl games.

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