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Inside The Huskies

Husky Rushers Have Potential, But They're Not There Yet

Manhattan prediction format is partial to the UW running back corps.
Dan Raley|
Husky quarterbacks and running backs share in a spring drill.
Husky quarterbacks and running backs share in a spring drill. | Dave Sizer photo

Maybe it's all in how you look at the situation.

Without a clearcut starter and having as many as three injured players ruled out of spring football, the running-back position is widely considered the University of Washington's weak link entering the coming season.

The heir apparent to the job transferred to California.

The next man up sufffered a spring-ending neck injury and remains questionable for Fall Camp.

Two incoming transfers missed all of spring ball while recovering from knee and ankle surgeries.

Of the 10 Husky rushers, with and without scholarships, they bring a combined four college starts to the competition.

Then there's Kalshi Football, part of a prediction market platform based in Manhattan, which ranks the collection of UW running backs as the sixth best in college football.

Now that's a bold wager, indeed.

On the plus side, the Huskies do have a considerable amount of speed in redshirt freshman Quaid Carr, redshirt freshman D'Aryhian Clemons, freshman Brian Bonner and, when his neck is healthy, sophomore Jordan Washington.

UW running-backs coach Scottie Graham, himself a former Ohio State and NFL running back, wisecracked that his speedsters together could probably win the 400-meter relay in the NCAA track meet.

The Huskies also have undeniable power backs in 6-foot-2, 241-pound freshman Ansu Sanoe, who ran over several defenders this spring, and a bookend in 6-foot-1, 234-pound redshirt freshman Julian McMahan

Even the walk-ons run with authority in redshirt freshman Ryken Moon, son of Hall of Fame quarterback Warren Moon, and junior Beck Walker, a California junior-college transfer.

The transfers, seniors Jayden Limar from Oregon and Trey Cooley from Troy, bring 67 games of college experience with them to Montlake. Limar actually played three times against the Huskies in 2023 and 2024, but didn't carry the football against them.

The 5-foot-10, 205-pound Limar has three starts in his career, opening for the Ducks last season against Northwestern, Oregon State and Penn State.

Cooley drew a lone start previously as a Louisville freshman in 2021 against Syracuse.

Yet the 5-foot-10, 208-pound Cooley hasn't played much at in recent seasons, appearing in just three games for Georgia Tech in 2024 and missing all of the 2025 season for Troy.

The Huskies could have someone from this group step up and take full advantage of the pressing job opening while permitting all of those other young guys to become seasoned and eventually work their way into staring consideration.

But at this stage, being labeled the sixth-best in the country at what they do seems a little premature.

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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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