Sights and Sounds of Husky Spring Football Practice No. 11

We have players getting in extra work, making big plays and saying good bye to a former teammate.

Hayden Moore and linebackers coach Brian Odom commiserate during stretching drills. / Skylar Lin Visuals

Spring practice No. 11 for the University of Washington football on Thursday was more about snapshots than the big picture.

For instance, redshirt freshman walk-on safety Kayden Greene was a late arrival to the workout for what could have been any number of reasons, such as a class conflict or training-room treatment or maybe it was simply a reward.

After all, his presence on this Husky team was cited as one reason his younger brother, 5-star offensive lineman recruit Kodi Greene, gave for flipping from Oregon earlier in the day, and becoming one of the UW's biggest recruiting wins in some time.

It should be, Kayden, feel free to take all of Saturday off if you wish.

Well before anyone else came out of the locker room, freshman defensive tackle Dominic Macon from Portalnd was out on the East field, working alone with a coach, repeatedly coming out a stance and hitting a blocking sled.

An interesting pre-practice interaction showed former Husky defensive-line coach Randy Hart from the James and Neuheisel eras amicably chatting up UW edge rusher Hayden Moore.

They had Jim Harbaugh in common.

Yet it wasn't clear if Moore, who played his first year at Michigan before coming to Montlake, knew he was talking to a former Ohio State offensive lineman and assistant coach in Hart.

They had national championships in common, with Moore winning his against the Huskies16 months ago in Houston and Hart part of the Buckeyes' 1968 10-0 and No. 1 team.

Two people from those two Big Ten powerhouse programs have never got along so well.

Running back Adam Mohammed played at Apollo High School in Glendale, Arizona, with offensive guard Michael Levelle Watkins before they both came to the UW last year as freshman.

This week, Watkins entered the transfer portal, leaving his double ex-teammate behind and a little sad.

"Yeah, for sure, we started off as freshmen playing together," Mohammed said of his Apollo days with Watkins. "That was my guy, knowing he followed Fisch and me here and had to leave. I was a little heart-broken, but you have to keep going."

Zaydrius Rainey-Sale, the elite freshman linebacker in recovery from an offseason knee injury, spent most of his time outside in a T-shirt and shorts doing a number of rehab drills. In one instance, he took on a dummy weighted to maintain an upright position, punching it, kneeing it and throwing it down.

Michael Switzer, promoted to top offensive-line coach after serving as an analyst, has been well-received by the Huskies in his charge because he's a former four-year starter at Ball State and went to camp with the Buffalo Bills. In other words, they can relate to him.

Midway through practice, Switzer repeatedly jumped in on a two-man blocking sled with each of his guys and pushed it along.

Freshman receiver Raiden Vines-Bright, who missed multiple practices with an undisclosed injury came up with his longest catch of the spring, a 31-yarder from Demond Williams Jr.

With a half hour left of practice, coach Jedd Fisch stood on the 12-yard line, with his players running around on the other half of the field, and spoke to someone on a cell phone in a loud voice with animated gestures.

He closed by saying, "All right!" and then handed the phone to Matt Doherty, senior director of player personnel, leaving the impression he was working hard on landing another recruit.

In goal-line situational plays, Williams drew a roar when he found Penn State transfer Omari Evans in the far left-hand corner of the end zone with a pinpoint pass, with the receiver barely getting a foot inbounds after making the catch, but pulling it off just the same.

On the next play, No. 2 quarterback Kai Horton, the Tulane transfer lobbed one to the end zone for Marcus Harris that seemed to hang in the air forever, but it came down in Harris' hands as cornerback Leroy Bryant made a desperate dive to deflect it to no avail. Harris next climbed to his feet and spiked the ball.

Well after everyone was gone, tight end Charlie Crowell and wide receiver Justice Williams, both injured to different degrees, were the last players to leave the practice field after presumably getting in some extra pass-catching.

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