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Inside The Huskies

Roebuck Off To Impressive Start as UW Freshman Receiver

The Arizona native has drawn plaudits from the coaching staff for his favorable first impression.
Dan Raley|
Dezmen Roebuck is off to a good start as a UW freshman wide receiver.
Dezmen Roebuck is off to a good start as a UW freshman wide receiver. | Dan Raley

It wasn't long into the first University of Washington fall football practice on Wednesday before No. 81 ran into the end zone and made a twisting one-handed catch.

Media members and others seated in the stands immediately pulled out their rosters to see who that was.

On Friday for the third fall workout conducted on the East field, this mystery receiver made another difficult reception, prompting a sideline observer to blurt out, "Who's No. 81?"

By now, just about everyone knows this pass-catcher to be freshman Dezmen Roebuck, a savvy 5-foot-11, 175-pound newcomer who has jumped right into the Husky receiver competition and made a good first impression.

"Dezmen Roebuck is a prime example -- he's really flashed," offensive coordinator Jimmie Dougherty said. "Got great ball skills. I would say early on, it being his third day of college football, he just kind of gets the game. He understands the game. He's very fundamentally sound."

Roebuck comes to the Huskies as a lightly recruited player from Marana, Arizona, even though he became the greatest high school receiver in state annals with a state-record 352 career catches. Twice he was named 5A Southern Region Player of the Year.

He fits right in with the Huskies, who had no qualms about his size or talent level. With the UW wide receiver competition broken down to Denzel Boston and just about everyone else, with Boston limited so far as he overcomes some health issue, wide receiver jobs are there for the taking.

Roebuck is doing everything he can to be noticed.

"He's already been pretty reliable as a young kid," Dougherty said. "It's early, but he's a guy who's kind of caught our eye."

UW quarterback Demond Williams Jr. and Roebuck are no strangers as Arizona natives, having played flag football together as kids and against each other in 7-on-7 competition. Others used to get them confused.

"Our names are pretty similar so we used to get called the same name all the time.," Williams said.

On Friday, the Huskies put the pads on for the first time and another freshman with a great deal of visibility, cornerback Dylan Robinson from La Verne, California, served up a subtle but noticeable hit. The 6-foot-3, 195-pound Robinson knocked Penn State transfer receiver Omari Allen hard to the ground in the end zone with hardly any effort.

On another a play, Kansas State transfer Carver Willis, 6-foot-5, 304-pound senior offensive tackle, showed why the offensive line will be notably improved. He provided a solid lead block on cornerback Ephesians Prysock, patting him on the head afterward in sort of an attention-getting fashion, to enable Jonah Coleman to score on an 8-yard run.

Before practice began, yet another freshman, 6-foot-6, 330-pound offensive guard John Mills was noticeable for his almost violent workout routine with stretching bands, practically seeing if he can snap one while he's getting loose.

Finally, there were two Husky head coaches on the field for the second time during the Jedd Fisch era. Previously, Chris Petersen has been a practice visitor. On Friday, Rick Neuheisel, now a media personality, showed up.

Neuheisel stayed for more than an hour, meeting with Fisch, warmly greeted by other staffers he once knew and watching everything unfold with the Huskies at practice.

For those who have forgotten, Neuheisel last coached at Washington 23 years ago, spending four season in Seattle and leading the 2000 Huskies to an 11-1 season and a Rose Bowl victory over Purdue and Drew Brees.

He next was terminated largely for his involvement in a local betting pool that later was deemed permissible and he sued the UW and the NCAA and ultimately won a $4.5 million judgement regarding his employment situation.

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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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