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Inside The Huskies

Looking at the Husky Quarterback Position Through NFL Eyes

JP Losman was promoted to help Demond Williams become a pro football player.
Dan Raley|
Kai Horton sits with former NFL QB JP Losman and goes over a play on an iPad in 2025.
Kai Horton sits with former NFL QB JP Losman and goes over a play on an iPad in 2025. | Skylar Lin Visuals

The University of Washington football team was between drills on Thursday when loud techno music began cascading through Husky Stadium, meant to set the stage for a segment running the hurry-up offense.

Off to the side, JP Losman began jumping up and down to the booming sounds, with players all around him, as if the UW quarterbacks coach was totally plugged in to this mid-practice moment.

"I stay youthful, I think," Losman said before spring ball began.

Once the three-hour workout was over, players and coaches gathered in groups, some with family members, and began to wind down. Yet any post-practice pleasantries for quarterback Demond Williams Jr. would have to wait.

Losman directed him to the stadium's West end zone for some hands-on instruction. For the next several minutes, Williams dropped back, Losman sent a giant ball rolling at him to simulate a pass rusher and a third guy caught passes.

This past winter, Losman partially replaced Jimmie Dougherty, who was the UW offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach, and is now with the Seattle Seahawks.

Losman was an offensive quality control coach promoted to work with the QBs, but no specific OC was hired, with coach Jedd Fisch preferring to handle play-calling duties himself on game day and otherwise.

No one has ever publicly explained what happened to Dougherty. There was no mention of a resignation or a firing, simply that the team and the coach had parted ways, which seemed to suggest the latter.

Either way, Losman is entrusted with polishing Williams' game. He's a former NFL quarterback, a one-time No. 1 draft pick from Tulane, a former pro starter.

Losman, 45, played 45 games and started 33 for three different NFL franchises. Threw 33 touchdown passes. Got sacked 108 times. Seen and done it all.

No one has said this out loud, but with Williams' flirtation with the transfer portal, it's possible that to convince him to stay in Montlake part of the deal was to provide him with a position coach with more of an NFL connection, which Losman provides.

Buffalo Bills quarterback JP Losman (7) looks to throw the ball in 2006.
Buffalo Bills quarterback JP Losman (7) looks to throw the ball in 2006. | Imagn Images

This is his first full-time coaching job after spending an offensive stint at Clemson and a defensive stay at Oklahoma as an analyst learning the game from a coaching perspective.

Losman also has Matt Cavanaugh, 69, joining the UW staff as a senior offensive assistant to work with him. Cavanaugh was an NFL quarterback for 13 seasons. He also spent 22 years as a pro assistant, including as the offensive coordinator for the Baltimore Ravens, Chicago Bears and Washington Redskins.

So the Huskies have Demond Williams Jr. surrounded by NFL types to help get him to the league, to make him successful this coming season in Montlake, though Losman and Cavanaugh's musical preferences no doubt diverge.

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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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