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Inside The Huskies

UW Singled Out As Football Team On Steady Ascent

The Huskies are lumped among eight teams on the rise through last season that should carry over.
Dan Raley|
Demond Williams Jr. (1) and Denzel Boston shared in a Big Ten Network TV interview at the UW Spring Game.
Demond Williams Jr. (1) and Denzel Boston shared in a Big Ten Network TV interview at the UW Spring Game. | Dave Sizer photo

Ever so slowly, people are gravitating to this University of Washington football team coming off a nine-win season and centered around possibly the fastest quarterback at the Power 4 level who is fully committed to Montlake after an offseason portal dalliance.

The Huskies appear to have newfound stability, particularly with a defense with the potential to determine the outcome of games and an offensive line restored to a high level again after trotting out the nation's best five blockers in 2023.

The next step obviously is beating an upper-echelon team or two to show everyone that the UW has come all the way back to playoff consideration.

ESPN, for one, sees Jedd Fisch's crew as one of eight nationwide that should sustain a program ascent from 2025, with some of the others coming from rock bottom: Texas Tech, Washington, Houston, Florida State, Northwestern, New Mexico, Purdue and Tulsa.

Bill Connelly of ESPN wrote the following assessment of a UW team picked for the middle of the pack in the Big Ten standings:

"After a solid nine-win, bounce-back campaign in Fisch's second season in charge, Washington re-signed its exciting young quarterback, then lost him, and then got him back. ... He has spent most of the offseason insisting that he's fully committed to UW. Assuming no lasting repercussions from the saga. ... The Huskies really should be pretty fun."

Fun is one thing, however winning is the main objective here and the Huskies have a real chance to improve on its nine-win season in 2025 with a favorable schedule, a team that appears more physically attune to playing in the conference and Williams maybe poised to show off all of the game-breaking ability he has, stuff that Fisch has been promising.

The 5-foot-11, 204-pound junior quarterback has a full season of starting experience on his ledger, he's very well compensated and he seems comfortable in his own skin again after being pilloried for considering an unexpected exit.

ESPN's Connelly seems to hinge his UW season forecast largely on Williams setting the tone for team cohesion and getting everyone to follow his lead once they jump into a schedule that begins with four consecutive home games.

"Williams' stay-or-go saga killed the afterglow of a fantastic rebound season in Seattle, but if there are indeed no issues stemming from that, the Huskies could potentially improve further. The conference schedule is rocky, featuring five of the top-seven projected (non-Washington) Big Ten teams; considering Washington's primary issue last year was damaging high-level defenses, that might prevent a serious CFP push.

"But with Williams, five experienced offensive linemen and proven defensive disruptors such as linebacker Jacob Lane and safety Alex McLaughlin, I'm expecting a top-20 caliber team."

If the Huskies continue their ascent, they'll be looking for no less than 10 victories this coming fall.

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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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