Tailback Kamari Pleasant Appears Ready to Kickstart UW Football Career

Even if it's called back, Kamari Pleasant made a shifty run on Monday.

He hit an open hole and raced to the top of the Husky tailback depth chart.

Pleasant was unveiled as the No. 1 guy to pack the football in Saturday's now canceled opener at California.

It might have been the biggest personnel surprise by Husky coach Jimmy Lake once he finally gave a progress report on his University of Washington football team following a month of practices.

Pleasant, a 6-foot, 230-pound senior from Rialto, California, has started just once in Husky career — but it was a gimmick formation. Against UCLA in 2018, he was part of an unusual three-tailback set used only for the opening play.

Mostly, Pleasant has been a special-teamer, a fill-in guy, an afterthought, mostly a third- or fourth-string back.

"Kamari has always been our Swiss Army knife," said Keith Bhonapha, UW running-backs coach. "He can block, he can catch, he runs the ball decent enough."

Yeah, but full-fledged starter?

Here's a couple of things to consider that might better explain this back's sudden depth-chart ascension and why now.

Pleasant radically changed his body frame this offseason, adding 17 pounds to become a tank-like 230-pounder.

It appears, under the guidance of UW offensive coordinator John Donovan, the Huskies are going to pound the ball on the ground, especially to take the pressure off a new quarterback, whoever that might be.

Pleasant might fit the Donovan offensive scheme better than the other candidates.

Lake also intends to keep his players interested in competing every day by knowing, that with a little more effort, they can unseat anyone in the lineup, which is what his senior back has done.

"I'm an equal-opportunity employer," the coach has said repeatedly. "If you show you know our schemes and techniques, in all three phases, you're going to play."

Pleasant's lofty depth-chart promotion also could be just a temporary reward, sort of like giving him a Senior Day moment and a symbolic start like they do in basketball. He's not choosy.

"I just take what I can get — any opportunity," Pleasant once said.

Either way, sophomore Richard Newton and senior Sean McGrew are expected to get plenty of carries in this even shorter short season. Newton, after scoring 11 touchdowns as a redshirt freshman, is projected for stardom at some point. McGrew, with a pair of 100-yard rushing games in his career and a handful of starts behind him, is a reliable player.

All of these backs have done some rearranging of pounds entering the season, whenever it starts. Newton has cut some weight to make himself more elusive, as has McGrew, who has shed 11 pounds.

Yet the whole starting thing might come down to who's best at doing the grunt work — are you blocking as you should be?

That might be Newton's issue and why he's not topping the depth chart just yet. His coach seemed to intimate as much.

"He's just trying to show up and be consistent," Bhonapha said of Newton. "Can they block and understand protection? We know Richard can run the ball. We're just trying to build on him being an overall running back."

Pleasant came to Washington to do just that. Run the ball. And a lot more than he has. He originally committed to Arizona State as a cornerback, but flipped to the Huskies when they made tailback an option for him.

He'll probably always wonder if he would have joined the Sun Devils secondary instead and played a lot more.

For now, he'll try to build on his newfound momentum as the potential UW game-opening back and add to his career rushing totals of 268 yards on 69 carries. He scored on touchdown runs of 23 against North Dakota and 15 against Colorado in 2018. Modest totals that could stand significant enhancement.

"I feel like I'm a balanced runner," Pleasant said last season. "I've got power behind me."

For now, he has all of the other Husky running backs there, as well.

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