UW Roster Review: Brown Provides QB Insurance

The Stanford transfer brings three games of experience as a starter.

Elijah Brown sets the play in the UW Spring Game. | Dave Sizer photo

Coming out of the Mater Dei High School powerhouse in Los Angeles -- where he shared in an astounding 42 victories in 44 outings -- quarterback Elijah Brown could have gone anywhere in the country to play his college football.

Certainly, he had unlimited offers, among them Alabama, Georgia, UCLA, USC and even Kalen DeBoer's Washington Huskies.

For that matter, Brown was rated a lot higher than a speedy quarterback named Demond Williams Jr. from Phoenix who was in the same 2024 recruiting class.

After two seasons of college ball, Williams and Brown ironically rank 1-2 at Husky quarterback, with the former running the show and the latter transferring in from Stanford to provide back-up help and maybe becoming the starter later on.

When he took his big reputation to Palo Alto, Brown was hailed as having the potential to become the best Cardinal quarterback since Andrew Luck.

"Elijah has a lot of experience, which is what we were looking for, to mix in with guys who have no college experience," UW coach Jedd Fisch said.

Elijah Brown delivers a Spring Game pass under pressure. | Dave Sizer photo

This is one in a series of articles -- going from 0 to 99 on the Husky roster -- examining what each scholarship player and leading walk-on did in spring practice and what to expect from them going into fall camp.

Brown left Stanford after it underwent a head-coaching change that involved former quarterbacks, with Tavita Pritchard, who played for Stanford. taking over for the fired Troy Taylor, formerly of California.

Meantime, interim coach Frank Reich made the 6-foot-2, 205-pound Brown his Cardinal starter for the final three games of last season, sending him out against North Carolina, California and Notre Dame.

Brown and Stanford lost a close one to Carolina and the Belichicks 20-15, won the traditional Big Game against California in a big way 31-10 and got embarrassed by Notre Dame 49-20 after falling behind 35-3 at halftime.

During spring football, he provided a level head whenever leading the Husky offense, which he picked up fairly quickly. He shared snaps behind Williams and ahead of redshirt freshmen Kini McMillan and Dash Beierly and freshman Derek Zammit.

When spring ball ended, he seemed to have a decided edge on the others as the back-up quarterback.

"Elijah Brown, we couldn't be more happy with him right now by coming in and learning the offense," said quarterbacks coach JP Losman. "Man, we put him in there sink or swim, in the fire, and he responded in a big way."

Demonstrating his patience and resourcefulness, Brown was the only quarterback who threw the ball to all six Husky tight ends, including short TD tosses to sophomores Baron Naone and Charlie Crowell.

Unofficially this spring, he completed 73 of 118 passes for an efficient 61.8 percent.

"He's smart," Fisch said. "He picked things up quickly."

What he's done: For Stanford in nine games over two seasons, he completed 102 of 175 passes for 1,102 yards and 6 touchdowns. His best outing came against North Carolina, where he was good on 27 of 39 throws for 284 yards and a score.

Starter or not: Brown's track record would seem to indicate he's fully capable of stepping in should Williams become unavailable. He has three seasons of eligibility remaining. He could become the Husky quarterback in waiting.