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Sights and Sounds of UW Fall Practice No. 2

The defense had its way before a couple of late touchdown passes sailed over the secondary.
Dan Raley|
Sights and Sounds of UW Fall Practice No. 2
Sights and Sounds of UW Fall Practice No. 2

As offensive-line coach Scott Huff hustled past the assembled media pool at Husky Stadium, he off-handedly called out, "It's a good day to talk to the defense."

Three plays into the University of Washington's second fall practice, sixth-year safety Asa Turner set the tone by closing fast to knock away a pass intended for wide receiver Rome Odunze.

Fellow safety Tristan Dunn followed up by swatting down a pass headed for sophomore Germie Bernard, while Oklahoma State transfer cornerback Jabbar Muhammad showed off his coverage skills once more by keeping another pass from reaching Odunze. 

The Husky defense put forth a concentrated effort for two-plus hours in the warm upper 80s temperatures that were punctuated by Blue Angels fighter jets buzzing the stadium.

They paid for it, too. Edge rusher Bralen Trice cramped up and had to be helped off the field, followed by linebacker Ralen Goforth and then defensive tackle Faatui Tuitele, who likewise came up lame in the heat. 

It wasn't until the end of the lengthy workout that the UW offense got a couple back from its defensive teammates. On the play of the day, redshirt freshman wide receiver Denzel Boston was in full stride when he caught a 71-yard touchdown pass from Michael Penix Jr., just over the outstretched arm of sophomore cornerback Jaivion Green. 

Walk-on Owen Coutts, a 6-foot-4, 217-pound sophomore wide receiver from Seattle, continues to impress He closed out the scoring by hauling in a 41-yard TD pass from Dylan Morris, beating JC transfer Thaddeus Dixon.

Somewhat unsettling for the coaching staff, Mississippi State transfer running back Dillon Johnson headed for the training tent midway through Thursday's practice and spent the rest of the workout idle on the sideline. The newcomer, who appears to have some some sort of lingering knee or leg injury that also cost him all but one practice during spring football. 

The Husky coaching staff simply hasn't been able to enjoy the services of this SEC back, who possesses a lot of football talent.

Similar to last year, redshirt freshman Cade Otton didn't participate in Thursday's second practice after going out the day before with some sort of ailment. A year ago, he tore an opening-day hamstring and went out.

The Huskies take a day off and return to the practice field on Saturday morning.

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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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