Inside The Huskies

While Some Huskies Have More Playing Time, Here's 6 Who Have Regressed

UW coach Jimmy Lake has made it more competitive than ever for starting jobs and game action. Here are six who have fallen back some.
Dan Raley|
While Some Huskies Have More Playing Time, Here's 6 Who Have Regressed
While Some Huskies Have More Playing Time, Here's 6 Who Have Regressed

Jimmy Lake continually reminds everyone that he's an equal opportunity employer.

Whereas other college football coaches might factor in an upperclassman loyalty system to help guide their playing-time decisions and try to keep everyone on the roster happy, the University of Washington coach says only performance matters to him. 

Senior tailback Kamari Pleasant, junior free safety Alex Cook, senior punter Race Porter and sophomore inside linebacker Edefuan Ulofoshio have been early recipients of the coach's bottom-line, show-me approach. Each of these Huskies has earned a starting job and significant playing time after playing support roles in previous seasons.

Pleasant more often was the third- or fourth-string running back and now he's the starter. Cook was a wide receiver two seasons ago who's made the successful conversion to defensive first-teamer. Ulofoshio, originally a walk-on, is the defensive leader now, trying to make himself into an all-conference player. Porter? He beat out a guy with a scholarship when he didn't have one, and now he does.

"Anyone can get their job snatched or get their job kept," Ulofoshio reminded. "It's always hustle, showing improvement. He wants Dawgs out there and that's what we have to be."

At the same time through game one, a few noteworthy Husky players have fallen to the depth-chart wayside, though they can improve their playing stock at any time. As a reminder, any of these players could be held back by injuries, which Lake will never discuss. But they were missing in action.

Cameron Williams — A seven-game strong safety starter as a true freshman, Williams got beat out by Asa Turner and didn't play in the Oregon State opener. There was a good chance Williams simply watched as an inactive player for just the second outing of his 14-game career. He actually beat out Turner twice last season. He'll have to do it again for meaningful reps.

Devin Culp — The sophomore has dropped to at best fourth-unit tight end and he sat out the OSU game, passed up on the depth chart by fellow sophomore Jack Westover and true freshman Mark Redman, who played behind junior honors candidate Cade Otton. Culp, who has an NFL body and sufficient receiving skills, likely lacks blocking prowess, which is critical to the new offense.

Jacob Sirmon — He's been waiting a long time to live up to his 4-star quarterback potential, but the third-year sophomore now finds himself planted firmly behind redshirt freshman Dylan Morris, who could be a potential four-year starter. Considering the program is very high on true freshman Ethan Garbers and awaiting the arrival of 5-star recruit Sam Huard next season, Sirmon's time at serious playing time may have come and gone. 

Marquis Spiker — One of the more highly regarded wide-receiver recruits in recent seasons, Spiker has slipped to the third unit or lower on the depth chart and didn't play against the Beavers. While he got on the field last season in a few big games, it might be a lot tougher for this sophomore to find playing time now that newcomers Rome Odunze and Jalen McMillan have established themselves in reserve roles and there is a veteran receiving crew holding down the starting spots. 

Tristan Brown  — Usually when you hand a junior-college punter a scholarship, he plays/kicks right away. Brown wasn't ready, to the point the Huskies gave Porter a scholarship right before the season began. That's a bit disturbing, considering he's handling only a specialist role rather than an every-down position. Will the Huskies recruit another punter for next season?

Jordan Chin — The senior wide receiver has appeared in 25 games, and started five, but he, too, didn't play against Oregon State. See influx of new talent. Chin might be another veteran victim of the new guys coming in and playing significant minutes right away.

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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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