Inside The Huskies

After Four Practices, No Clear-Cut Leader in Husky QB Sweepstakes

New University of Washington offensive coordinator John Donovan met with the local media for the first time and answered a lot of questions about the quarterback competition.
Dan Raley|
After Four Practices, No Clear-Cut Leader in Husky QB Sweepstakes
After Four Practices, No Clear-Cut Leader in Husky QB Sweepstakes

The offense had the floor. John Donovan confirmed all four quarterbacks remain in competition for the starting job. Jaxson Kirkland felt he was needed at left tackle so he made the move. 

Cade Otton, however, provided the biggest news on Day Four of University of Washington football practice.

On Wednesday, he said, the UW players will put on the pads for the first time.

Without being able to see practices other than on Friday, everyone on the outside assumed the Huskies had done this already.

"It's been a long time coming," Otton said. "I think guys are really excited to do it."

Twenty-five days from the opener at California, the Huskies will take the intensity level up another notch.

They'll hit each other. 

Padded practices, more than anything, increase the speed and anxiety of play, and separate the starters from the reserves.

Donovan, the first-year offensive coordinator, will need to choose a starting quarterback from among sophomore Jacob Sirmon, redshirt freshman Dylan Morris, freshman Ethan Garbers and senior transfer Kevin Thomson.

"They all have talent," Donovan said. "They all have certain attributes compared to the other that might be good, better or worse or what not."

They've all made mistakes, too.

It will be the guy who makes the best decisions, shows the best completion rate and builds trust with his teammates and coaches who gets the job. Hanging too long in the pocket will be a definite deal-breaker. 

"I'm not going to handle them with kid gloves," Donovan said. "We're going to call them out."

The Husky coordinator said he would like to settle on one guy, this coming after coach Jimmy Lake said they could go with a couple.

"I do feel good about all of them," Donovan said. "They all will be able to function. I think all need to get better at certain things. At this point in time, no one is the clear-cut leader."

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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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