Inside The Huskies

No Shortage of QB Toughness At Husky Game

Demond Williams Jr. and his Illinois counterpart Luke Altmyer stuck their noses into the action.
Dan Raley|
Illinois quarterback Luke Altmyer seems humored by Tacario Davis talking to him.
Illinois quarterback Luke Altmyer seems humored by Tacario Davis talking to him. | Dave Sizer photo

What was it with those quarterbacks at Husky Stadium on Saturday afternoon?

Fearless, foolish, anything but skittish.

Demond Williams Jr. and Luke Altmyer better resembled Joe Kapp and Billy Kilmer, a pair of old-time signal-callers known for cracking helmets and taking names.

Kapp, the former NFL QB and California QB and coach, was so tough, in fact, he once took on a linebacker and knocked him out.

Kilmer, a former NFL and UCLA quarterback, turned up in several photos during his career bloodied and bruised, including one with a nasty cut on his nose that required several stitches.

So here comes the Huskies' Williams who late in third quarter on a third-and-18 play took off running up the left sideline and was met by Illini free safety Miles Scott.

Did he slide? Run out of bounds? Take the safe way out?

Not a chance.

The gritty little Williams lowered his shoulder, collided with Scott, sent the defensive back reeling backward, bounced off and kept running for another seven yards.

His 25-yard gain was more than enough to keep the UW drive going and make his coach lose his mind watching it unfold. He made it by seven yards to spare.

"Do I like to see that?” Fisch muttered in a postgame interview. “No, but yes, but no, but yes.”

It almost sounded the coach took the hit himself, before Fisch finally concluded, "No, I don’t like to see it. We don’t want to live in those [moments]. It was quite a play. It was quite a play. But we have to continue to remind him, like, I can go for it on fourth-and-two.”

Fisch wasn't the only coach trying to get his quarterback to throttle it back some.

The series before Williams' risk-taking manuever, Illinois' Altmyer threw an interception that was deflected to Husky cornerback Tacario Davis well down the field.

With a full escort of teammates, Davis returned the ball 34 yards. He put a hand down to get his balance while weaving through tacklers.

The UW defender finally went down at the Illini 36 -- in the arms of Altmyer.

Demond Williams Jr. gets dropped on a run against Illinois.
Demond Williams Jr. gets dropped on a run against Illinois. | Dave Sizer photo

Apparently sensing that Davis might score if he didn't do something, Altmyer dove and wrapped up his opponent.

It didn't go unnoticed by everyone who was responsible for the tackle.

Once the game ended, Altmyer had a big smile on his face as Davis walked up and said something to him.

Compliments all around?

If so, it was better than Davis having to apologize for hurting him.

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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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