Pleasant Dreams: Kamari Is the No. 1 Husky TB, Taking it All in Stride

Ask him about himself, and Kamari Pleasant is sort of a short-yardage specialist.

He doesn't offer anything too revealing. Nothing too in-depth. Just simple, easy-going answers.

No, he never thought about leaving the University of Washington.

There was never any un-Pleasant-ness.

He simply waited his turn.

There wasn't a defining moment that took him from a third- or fourth-string tailback to the starter.

He listened to the coaches' advice as it came.

"I always took it to note," Pleasant said. "I applied it over the years. You know, I just gradually kept growing."

Even the news of his big offseason weight gain of 17 pounds got tempered some.

Pleasant weighs 221, down from a high of 230.

"I feel the same," he said. "I feel explosive. I still feel like my body is growing."

So goes the senior from Rialto, California, who has made one of the more startling leaps up the Husky depth chart yet doesn't seem nearly as impressed by this as everyone else is.

It's as if he always expected it and he was none too concerned that his opportunity didn't come sooner.

"I'm just making plays for my team," Pleasant said.

Against Oregon State, he took the field ahead of Sean McGrew, Richard Newton and Cam Davis, and ran the ball 12 times for 61 yards and a 15-yard dash to the end zone.

Pleasant had just 63 carries for 268 yards and two scores over three previous seasons, most of them coming in mop-up duty.

"I never thought about leaving," he said. "I just knew if I focused on my details, things would work out."

For now, he's moved ahead of McGrew, a fellow senior and loyal soldier who has started before and rushed for a team-high 91 yards on 9 carries against the Beavers. He plays before Newton, considered the Huskies' back of the future and someone who received a team-best 15 carries for 41 yards against Oregon State. And then there's Davis, who some felt might relegate him to the fourth back.

Quizzed about his fellow tailbacks, Pleasant described Newton as a hard-nosed, downhill runner. He praised McGrew as fast and explosive. As for Davis, he called him quick and twitchy.

That leaves one more, a player who can be really elusive, even when he's not carrying the football.

"Myself?" Pleasant said. "I feel I'm just like them."

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