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One Surprise in UW Opener Lineups With Taj Davis Drawing WR Start

The sophomore, however, has run with the first unit many times before.
Dan Raley|
One Surprise in UW Opener Lineups With Taj Davis Drawing WR Start
One Surprise in UW Opener Lineups With Taj Davis Drawing WR Start

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Washington Huskies

Taj Davis' name kept coming up in the University of Washington's post-practice briefings. He was a player who had the exemplary catch, a productive practice and a noticeable two weeks of work.

And with that, the 6-foot-2, 193-pound sophomore from Upland, California, finds himself in the starting lineup for Saturday night's opener against Kent State. 

On Monday, Davis was the only real surprise as Husky coach Kalen DeBoer revealed his lineups, moving past Ja'Lynn Polk to be first on the field when the offense comes out.

Yet for Davis, starting at wide receiver is not new to him. He opened six times last season while catching 26 passes for 329 yards and a touchdown against California.

"With Taj, it's really 1A and 1B," Grubb said of the close Davis-Polk competition. "He and JP are going to play a ton. I thought he upped his stock with his attacking the football the last 10 days of fall camp. When the ball was in the air, we felt real confident Taj was going to come down with it."

 

Also, Ulumoo Ale appears to be sufficiently recovered from his practice injury earlier in the month to draw his first start at defensive tackle after switching to that position from offensive guard.

The linebackers for the first UW series will be first-time starter Alphonzo Tuputala and Pittsburgh transfer Cam Bright, with six-game 2021 regular Carson Bruener coming off the bench.

At edge rusher, one-time Texas A&M transfer and Jeremiah Martin has one spot while All-American candidate Zion Tupuola-Fetui is listed as an either/or player on the other side with sophomore Bralen Trice.

Virginia transfer Wayne Taulapapa draws the running-back start, with Nebraska transfer Will Nixon backing him.

The UW game notes, with lineups, can be accessed here. 

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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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