It Would Be An In-Justice Not to Let Williams Play Husky WR

Following spring practice No. 6 on Saturday, University of Washington tight-ends coach Jordan Paopao addressed the media in Husky Stadium while Justice Williams played catch with quarterback Kai Horton not far from him.

In one sequence, Williams would turn his back to Horton and wait for the Tulane transfer to lob the ball in his direction and next call out at the last second that the pass was on the way.

Requiring a high-dexterity athletic move, Williams had to use his reflexes to pick up the football and get his hands on it.

The point of this interaction is Williams is a 6-foot-4, 210-pound redshirt freshman pass-catcher who looks like a tight end.

He's the son of former NFL tight end Roland Williams, who played eight years and won Super Bowl XXXIV with the St. Louis Rams.

Yet the younger Williams plays wide receiver for the Huskies and on Saturday he handled that position extremely well -- emerging as one of the standouts over the 150-minute session held under gray skies alternating with sunshine peeking through.

So any chance Justice Williams becomes a tight end for the UW, which seems to be his destiny considering the family history?

"Justice Williams is doing a great job at the X receiver right now," Paopao said with a smile. "You see him with touchdown catches. I just love seeing him grow. We'll see how that goes down the road."

Midway through the practice, Williams got behind defensive backs Kayden Greene and Alex McLaughlin to pull in a 45-yard pass from Demond Williams Jr., only to land on the ball and have the wind knocked out of him.

Three trainers surrounded him while he lay on his back and recomposed himself before he could get back on his feet.

Not long after that, Williams pulled in a pass from Horton, bounced off a defensive back and went for 29 yards.

Near the end of practice, Williams had his shining moment. He went up with freshman cornerback D'Aryhian Clemons in the corner of the end zone for a Horton pass and impressively won that battle, too, high-pointing the ball and pulling down a 13-yard scoring catch.

For good measure, this second-year Husky also slammed into a helpless defensive back and sent him tumbling over backward in a one-on-one drill with everyone watching, and was immediately surrounded by howling teammates.

Williams, who's from the Oaks Christian School in Westlake Village, California, missed much of the 2024 season with injuries. He's look healthy now.

Alex McLaughlin had a big day during Saturday's spring practice. | Skylar Lin Visuals

Observation No. 2: The aforementioned McLaughlin, a Northern Arizona transfer and first-team All-Big Sky selection at safety last season, had his best UW practice yet.

Early in the session, the 6-foot-2, 198-pound junior stepped up in the hole, took on sophomore running back Adam Mohammed, wrapped him up and stopped him for no gain.

McLaughlin was just getting started.

He next stripped the ball out of the hands of 6-foot-2, 230-pound freshman running back Julian McMahan, who appeared stunned by this.

At the goal line, McLaughlin ran vertically step for step with tight end Decker DeGraaf and deftly deflected a Williams pass away from the intended target.

Near the end of the day, McLaughlin ran into Mohammed a second time and dropped him for a 1-yard loss.

Observation No. 3: At the midpoint of practice, junior edge rusher Isaiah Ward came off the field in a lot of pain, holding his hand and bent over while a trainer tried to attend to him.

A returning starter, he's highly thought of as a Husky defensive leader. That was clear when concerned teammates Elinneus Davis, Logan Sagapolu and Jacob Lane gathered around and tried to comfort him.

Ward ultimately left the field with a trainer and didn't return.

More Saturday sights and sounds: Western Michigan transfer Anterio Thompson, a 6-foot-4, 306-pound defensive tackle, once more showed off his athleticism by running down wide receiver Audric Harris on a quick out pass and dropping him for a 2-yard loss.

Redshirt freshman safety Paul Mencke Jr. had a diving interception of a Horton pass and rightly jumped to his feet to celebrate.

Demond Williams Jr., while he's not to be tackled only touched down, broke a 50-yard scoring run.

Defensive tackle Elinneus Davis got his hands on running back Jonah Coleman and literally threw him down for a 2-yard loss.

Penn State transfer and wide receiver Omari Evans missed his second consecutive practice after coming up lame with some sort of leg injury earlier in the week.

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