A Moment with New UW Running Back Jonah Coleman

The new ball carrier talks Fisch culture, his starting debut at the UW and his thighs.

University of Washington spring football practice No. 11 was notable because Jedd Fisch took his players inside, out of the rain, for his first full workout in Dempsey Indoor, and it was time for others to initially speak with No. 1, the Huskies' own thunder and lightning.

That would be Arizona transfer Jonah Coleman, a 5-foot-9, 225-pound junior running back who is unlike any other UW rusher in modern times, which is a compact guy with breakaway quickness who can be a violent runner when he wants to be.

You have to go back 58 years to find someone in Montlake with 30-inch-plus thighs like his coming out of the backfield, all the way to the great but tragic Donnie Moore -- who remains legendary for running 30 times for 221 yards and 2 touchdowns in a 38-22 upset of Ohio State in Columbus, in 1966 and then incredibly got tossed off the team a short time later for supposedly drinking beer in a north Seattle tavern.

Coleman seemed intrigued when he heard about the 5-foot-81/2, 210-pound Moore, wanting to know more. However, his running back heroes while growing up in Stockton, California, were LaDainian Tomlinson, Josh Jacobs and Christian McCaffrey

"Just to see them do it, I can call off the plays when watching NFL games," he said of the Jedd Fisch offense that has taken him to Tucson and now to Seattle. "We really have a pro system. ... When I seee guys make plays in the offense that we run, it gets me excited."

It also helps to have a serious-minded back in the primary role such as Coleman, who last season ran for 197 yards at Colorado and for 143 at USC while leading the Wildcats in rushing with 892 yards on 128 carries. He left Arizona because Fisch and running-backs coach Scottie Graham did, and he liked how they ran things in a serious-minded manner.

"It's no different -- the culture came," he said when asked to compare Arizona to the UW. "The coaches built a culture down there, got the right people in the building. I feel like it's the same here. Whoever wants to be will be here and whoever doesn't, the portal is open."

Coleman comes to the UW, a place that afforded him his first college start, a personal milestone that happened two years ago in a 49-39 loss for him at Husky Stadium.

"It's kind of crazy I'm here now, knowing that was my first career start," he said. "I remember the place was rocking, being loud, definitely hard to focus. The fans were amazing. The atmosphere, really, that's what I remember."

They'll be cheering for him this fall when he's expected to give the UW even more of a powerful running game than it had with previous coach Kalen DeBoer, who handed the football ball over the past two seasons primarily to Wayne Taulapapa and Dillon Johnson, who were transfers from Virginia and Mississippi State, respectively, when the pass-minded Huskies weren't putting it in the air.

Coleman says it's been mind-blowing for him to come to practice and see all the celebrity coaches walk through Montlake such as Bill Belichick, Pete Carroll and Jack Del Rio because they've won Super Bowls, he's only seen them on TV before and they're larger than life to him.

As for those signature thighs of his, Coleman finds to them to be kind of off putting because ithey affect his football wardrobe choices, even though the tradeoff is a lot of yards and touchdowns.

"I don't like them," he said flatly. "My practice pants slide down all the time. I want to have the knee pads over my knees, but I don't have legs like that."

Come this fall, Coleman might be the only one complaining about any portion of those legs.

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