Bow Down: Regular Season Stat Leaders Offer a Few Surprises
Washington's leading touchdown-maker entering the postseason? If you said Salvon Ahmed, Hunter Bryant or Aaron Fuller, you might be surprised.
Redshirt freshman Richard Newton, a reserve running back who missed three games with a leg injury yet has proved to be a valuable addition when healthy, tops Washington with 10 TDs, 9 on the ground and 1 receiving. Ahmed, the junior starter, is second with 9 rushing scores.
The leading tackler? Has to be Levi Onwuzurike or Joe Tryon, right?
No, junior cornerback Elijah Molden tops the Huskies with 70 tackles, 14 of them coming in the Apple Cup. Molden also shares in the team interception lead with 3, same as freshman safety Cam Williams. Senior safety Myles Bryant is second with 66 tackles.
Redshirt freshman Edefuan Ulofoshio, who has started just two games at inside linebacker, has piled up 43 tackles, 23 as a first-teamer, which ranks him sixth on the team.
Tryon, a sophomore outside linebacker, has 12.5 tackles for loss, including 8 sacks, to lead the UW in both categories.
Ahmed tops the Huskies in rushing, with exactly 1,000 yards on 182 carries. Newton is next with 429 yards on 102 rushes. Junior reserve back Sean McGrew has the best yards per carry average of the trio, 6.5, picking up 336 yards on just 52 carries while scoring 5 times.
Fuller leads the Huskies in receptions with 54 for 673 yards and 6 TDs, barely holding off Hunter Bryant, the junior tight end who's caught 52 for 825 yards and 3 TDs. The UW's third-best receiver, demonstrating the importance of the position, is sophomore tight end Cade Otton, who has 29 catches for 330 yards and 2 scores.
Junior quarterback Jacob Eason has completed 238 of 373 passes for 22 scores and 2,922 yards with 8 interceptions in 12 games. In comparison, as a true freshman at Georgia in 2016, Eason connected on 204 of 370 passes for 16 TDs and 8 interceptions in 13 outings, counting a bowl game.
Looking ahead, the Huskies will return 8 of the 11 starters on defense, and junior Keith Taylor and Molden at cornerbacks are the only underclassmen to start all 12 games on defense this season.
Offensively, providing Hunter Bryant and Eason don't turn pro early, the UW returns 6 of 11 starters, with left guard Luke Wattenberg, Otton and Eason the only ones with eligibility left who have started every game.
In the video, these guys in purple shirts also demonstrated they knew the words and can sing a little. Check it out.
