Rogers' Freshman RB Debut as Productive as Any at UW in Decades

Let the record show that Tybo Rogers' University of Washington football career officially began midway through the third quarter at Michigan State, with the Huskies leading 38-0 and the freshman running back instinctively picking his way through the middle for a 5-yard gain.

While the game already was out of reach, the No. 1 offense was still on the field, giving Rogers a chance to take a pair of handoffs from Heisman Trophy candidate Michael Penix Jr., and contribute to a drive that led to a field goal and the UW's final points in its 41-7 victory.

The 5-foot-11, 185-pound Rogers from Bakersfield, California, finished with a game-high 74 yards rushing on 15 carries — with both numbers representing season bests for any Husky back.

"He was being very decisive considering it was his first action ever at the college level," UW coach Kalen DeBoer said.

Expect to see a lot more of Rogers before this season is out. In fact, he was so good from the outset, consider how he fared against the debuts of other top UW Husky running backs.

All-time leading UW rusher Myles Gaskin, as a freshman in 2015, settled for 5 yards on 5 carries in a 16-13 setback to Boise State in the season opener, on his way to 5,323 career yards.

Rashaan Shehee, Rogers' coach at Bakersfield High School and a Husky standout, provided a 6-carry, 19-yard outing in his debut in a 34-20 win over San Jose State in the fifth game of the 1994 season.

Napoleon Kaufman, the Huskies' all-time leading rusher with 4,106 yards before Gaskin surpassed him, opened with a 6-carry, 2-yard net showing in the 1991 season opener at Stanford, a 42-7 victory, for a national championship team.

Original Doak Walker Award winner Greg Lewis ran 6 times for 64 yards in a 31-3 win over Pacific in his first college outing as a freshman, which came in the UW's fourth game of the 1987 season.

Finally, Jacque Robinson, who capped off his amazing freshman season in 1981 with a 142-yard, 2-TD and Rose Bowl MVP performance against Iowa, rushed 3 times for 11 yards in his college debut in the season opener, a 34-14 victory over Pacific.

This was a positive bounce-back for Rogers, who served.a two-week suspension early in fall camp for breaking team rules, which have gone unspecified, though DeBoer said the freshman broke no laws nor committed any NCAA rules violations.

"I'm really proud of how our staff handled it with him," UW offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb said. "He's a young guy. Sometimes you forget how young some of these kids are and some of the things they've got to work through personally so they can be their best. I think Tybo did a good job of that. He's getting a lot better He's getting more mature."

On his fourth carry against Michigan State, Rogers zipped up the middle for a personal-best 15-yard gainer, getting pulled down at midfield.

On Rogers' 11th rush coming well into the fourth quarter, he legged out another 15 yards before getting pushed out of bounds at the UW 40.

The coaching staff has been pleased with the way Rogers has made steady progress in getting back to work and regaining trust.

"I think if Tybo would have come out and had success week one and not got some of the off-field issues corrected, I don't know if he'd be as far a long as he is right now, honestly," Grubb said. "I'm super happy where he's at. I'm proud of the work he's put in. We expect big things throughout the season."

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