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Inside The Huskies

Lawson Likely Drawing UW Wide Receiver Promotion

The second-year player from San Francisco has been patient while waiting his turn.
Dan Raley|
Chris Lawson warms up before the Apple Cup.
Chris Lawson warms up before the Apple Cup. | Dave Sizer photo

Chris Lawson didn't flinch when fellow freshmen wide receivers Dezmen Roebuck and Raiden Vines-Bright were made University of Washington starters in 2025 and he wasn't.

He didn't react badly when Kennesaw State transfer Christian Moss won a starting job over him for last weekend's Apple Cup against Washington State.

Rather the 6-foot, 185-pound Lawson from San Francisco stayed focused on his Husky career path, much like he did on his incredible one-handed, fouled and falling 35-yard catch late in the 24-10 victory over the Cougars.

And now all of this likely will pay off for Lawson, who will become the starter on Saturday against Utah State should Moss, while nursing another "soft-tissue injury," which generally are code words for a hamstring pull, be unable to go.

"Yes, Chris deserves the starting role as the X," UW coach Jedd Fisch said on Monday. "It would be him unless it wasn't based on practice. "

Lawson played much of the Apple Cup after Moss went out early in the game, this after the latter missed half of spring football with a similar injury.

In fall camp, Moss stayed healthy throughout and won the job from the other guy in a spirited battle that was fun to watch.

Yet he remains dragged down by pulled muscles since arriving from his overheated hometown of Atlanta and running around in the cooler climate.

"i think we have to wait and see exactly what the report is and see if this is substantial and significant or if this is something we can get past quickly," Fisch said.

Lawson, who played in eight games as a freshman, went about selling his coach that he was up for the task against the Cougars.

"At halftime, Chris was just trying to feed me confidence with, 'Coach, you have nothing to worry about. We're great. We're good," Fisch said.

Lawson ultimately came up with 4 receptions for 87 yards in the 118th Apple Cup, with none more impressive than him getting behind the Cougars secondary late in the game and making an acrobatic catch.

With cornerback Kai Rapolla hanging all over him and pushing him, Lawson used his left arm to pull in the deep throw from Demond Williams Jr. and secure it with two hands at the WSU 11 for the 35-yard gain.

On the very next snap, Jayden Limar scored on an 11-yard run to clinch the game.

Lawson's number came up with the Huskies looking for a kill shot to settle everything on the scoreboard.

"We felt like it was time to take a chance and I'm glad we made a great play on it," Fisch said of the deep throw. "You can't sit back and hope. You've got to make plays."

Which encapsulates Chris Lawson's UW football career to this point.

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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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