Husky Roster Review: Rogers Ready to Take His Turn at the Wheel

Will Rogers followed former Mississippi State teammate Dillon Johnson to the University of Washington football team, in fact claiming Johnson's Husky jersey No. 7. He will follow in the quarterback footsteps of Michael Penix Jr., becoming the UW's second consecutive Southern-bred signal-caller.

Through it all, Rogers will be asked to lead a program coming off a national championship game appearance and return it to some level of success under a new coaching staff headed up by Jedd Fisch.

The best thing about the 6-foot-2, 204-pound Rogers is he's seen and done it all in the college game -- after all, he spent three of his four seasons in Starkville, Mississippi, responding to every Mike Leach whim -- but mostly he's a realist.

"I'm not Michael Penix or anything like that," he said. "I'm not going to be able to make some of the throws and the plays that he made, but I'm my own self."

Will Rogers watches Cam Sirmon catch one of his spring passes. | Skylar Lin Visual

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.

Rogers, even with an almost completely redrawn UW lineup, will have a real chance to get the Huskies off to a 5-0 start before they face the last team to beat them, Michigan, in CFP title-game rematch in Seattle on Oct. 5.

Should the UW beat the reigning national champs, likewise rebuilt with a new coach and a lot of new faces in the lineup, Rogers will be hailed as a program savior much on the same order as Penix was, with almost everything after that considered a bonus.

Rogers takes over in Montlake after throwing for 12,315 yards and opening 40 of 43 games played for Mississippi State while holding up a 23-17 record as the starter. Also over four seasons, the oft-injured Penix arrived from Indiana with 4,197 yards and 17 starts in 20 outings, going 12-5 as the No. 1 guy.

The real difference for these imported Husky QBs is Kalen DeBoer's staff was able to fashion a superb offensive line with just two full-time starters returning, while Fisch's crew has had to completely start over in finding five new first-teamers for this position group.

It could be the difference-maker in how well Rogers' one season at the UW turns out, though with Fisch still out shopping in the transfer portal for O-line help, the situation is far from settled.

Yet veteran that he is, Rogers hardly appeared panicked by not knowing exactly who would be blocking for him when he came out of spring ball.

"I don't try to think about it too much," he said. "I do know in the state of college football, things can change rather quickly."

This cool-hand Will will take everything as it comes, ducking out of trouble if he has to, scrambling a little more if necessary.

Will Rogers works with center Landen Hatchett during spring ball. | Skylar Lin Visuals

WILL ROGERS FILE

What he's done: With good and bad Mississippi State offerings, Rogers was never able to beat Alabama, Georgia or LSU, but he twice toppled ranked Texas A&M teams, defeated then-No. 12 Kentucky, No. 16 Auburn and No. 20 Ole Miss, won a pair of bowl games over Illinois and Tulsa, and twice took games from a pair of Fisch Arizona teams, one in overtime.

Starter or not: Rogers is the starter, no question. He didn't come 2,460 miles to watch someone else run the huddle. He didn't do anything special in the spring game, but it was dumbed down in terms of play-calling and held with a running clock, making it more of a workout and little else. The QB connected on 14 of 25 passes for 154 yards and a score. The situation will be much more dynamic for him when he has an offensive line in place and an open playbook.

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