No Clay Pigeon, UW Freshman Gets Initiated In First Practice

Jordan Clay likely won't soon forget his first University of Washington football practice.

It was exciting, exasperating and exonerating, all at once.

On Tuesday afternoon, the 6-foot-3, 207-pound freshman wide receiver from San Antonio, Texas, went through the full spectrum of emotions on the East practice field as spring ball began and everyone got acquainted over three hours.

Jedd Fisch's Husky coaching staff threw him in with the No. 1 offense once everyone got in the huddle, making him one of three guys fresh out of high school who immediately moved to the front of the line at his position.

Defensive tackle Derek Colman-Brusa and offensive tackle Kodi Greene were the others given ultimate promotions as first-year players.

So big and fast, Clay teamed with sophomore Dezmen Roebuck and junior Rashid Williams to form a first-unit receiving corps when the Huskies moved to 11-on-11 snaps that each began from the 30 yard line.

It was at this time Clay got fully baptized, painfully so.

Lining up on the left side, he ran a wrong route that was so egregious in its execution on a Demond Williams Jr. pass, he drew an immediate rebuke from the Husky coaching staff. Expletives went flying. Feelings weren't spared.

An angry message was sent that this can't happen again, that he could do better, that people aren't messing around with this team that carries a lot of possibilities.

At that moment, Clay might have felt like heading to the airport or the bus station and traveling south or out of earshot at least, but he swallowed hard and simply returned to the task at hand.

Not too much later in practice, he ran the same play correctly and made a difficult leaping catch with a defensive back all over him. Lesson learned. Plaudits all around.

Originally committed to Baylor, Clay flipped to the Huskies late in his recruitment, which was considered a sizable coup for the Fisch coaching staff. He now wears No. 11, a UW wide-receiver jersey that previously belonged to NFL-bound Jalen McMillan.

As a Madison High School senior, this Texas kid was so explosive he had an 11-catch, 289-yard and 3-touchdown outing last November in a 56-42 victory over Roosevelt.

Ohio State transfer Bodpegn Miller (18) and Jordan Clay (11) head for the locker room. | Dan Raley

He's one of three receivers the Huskies brought in this winter who stand 6-foot-3, joining Ohio State transfer Bodpegn Miller and Kennesaw State transfer Christian Moss. So far, he's got a step on the older guys in terms of running with the No. 1 offense.

"Obviously, the bigger you are, the easier you become a target," Williams said.

That is, as long as you run the right route, of course.