After weeks of beautiful summer days, Seattle was covered with clouds on Monday. There are still a few good weeks of Pacific Northwest summer ahead — it’s still July after all — but the rain misting down on the city served as a gentle reminder.
It’s almost football season.
Washington will return to the gridiron in one month, facing Weber State at Husky Stadium on Aug. 31 to officially begin the Jedd Fisch era. The Huskies open fall camp on Wednesday, one day after hosting a local media day.
UW’s depth chart, Fisch said, is wide open. He warned any attending media to expect long practices.
“I think we’re going to see just an enormous amount of competition,” Fisch said at Big Ten media days on July 25.
Here are five storylines to watch before the Huskies take the field against the Wildcats:
1. Offensive line questions
Washington’s question marks along the offensive line are well known. All five starters from the unit which won the 2023 Joe Moore Award — currently sitting in Husky Stadium’s lobby — departed.
The Huskies only had seven scholarship offensive linemen available during spring practice, as sophomore Landen Hatchett and junior Gaard Memmelaar continued to rehab from season-ending ACL injuries.
Washington added three offensive linemen from the transfer portal. Center D’Angalo Titialii, a former Eastside Catholic standout, made 28 starts for Portland State before returning to his home state. Former Ohio State guard Enokk Vimahi was a highly touted high school prospect from Hawaii and is entering his sixth season of college football, while junior tackle Maximus McCree was a junior college All-American at Iowa Central.
Now, with the spring portal additions on campus and returns for Hatchett and Memmelaar — Fisch said all his linemen have been “cleared” for practice — the biggest challenge will be developing chemistry along the front five before the season begins.
“You have five guys who’ve never played next to each other,” Fisch said. “They’re certainly big enough. They’re certainly strong enough. As individuals, they’re certainly qualified to make a difference.”
2. More cornerbacks than starting spots
Washington returns only two starters from the 2023 season. One of them is junior cornerback Elijah Jackson, who made 61 tackles and defended five passes during 15 games. His swat in the front right corner of the end zone sealed Washington’s 37-31 win against Texas in the Sugar Bowl.
While Fisch praised the Carson, Calif., native’s growth, the Washington coach named cornerback as one of the most interesting position battles this fall.
Jackson faces challenges from two players: junior Ephesians Prysock, a former Arizona transfer who followed Fisch and position coach John Richardson to Seattle, and senior Thaddeus Dixon, a standout from spring camp whom Fisch praised as “fantastic” during media days. Dixon made 26 tackles and had an interception in 14 games during the 2023 season.
Additionally, junior Dyson McCutcheon, the only defensive back who exclusively played nickel this spring, spent most practices with the safeties and linebackers so whoever doesn’t start out of Jackson, Prysock and Dixon doesn’t necessarily have a clear path to playing time at nickel either.
“The position battle at corner is going to be a great battle,” Fisch said.
3. Safety options
Similar to cornerback, Washington has several veterans competing for starting spots at safety. Sixth-year senior Kamren Fabiculanan and junior Makell Esteen both played significant roles during the 2023 season, accumulating 26 and 19 tackles, respectively. Fabiculanan has nickel experience, but spent most of the spring playing safety.
The Huskies added two transfer portal safeties, too. Seventh-year senior Justin Harrington was Oklahoma’s starting nickel until he tore his ACL and transferred to Washington for his final year of eligibility. Fifth-year senior Cameron Broussard also has one year remaining after joining UW from Sacramento State, where he was a first-team All-Big Sky player in 2023.
4. Linebacker pairings
Along with Jackson, UW’s only other returning starter is sixth-year linebacker Alphonzo Tuputala. The Federal Way native had 69 tackles, 1.5 sacks and an interception during the 2023 season.
In theory, the obvious choice is pairing Tuputala with fifth-year linebacker Carson Bruener, who had 86 tackles, four passes deflected, an interception and a forced fumble during the past season.
Fisch, however, said he’s excited to mix and match the linebacker pairings this spring to figure out which players complement each other best. The Huskies also have senior linebacker Bryun Parham, a former San Jose State standout who led the Spartans with 106 tackles in 2023, and former walk-on Drew Fowler available.
“Just trying to move some guys back and forth,” Fisch said.
He also named true freshman Khmori House as a player to watch this fall. House, who starred at Southern California powerhouse St. John Bosco High School and chose to stay at Washington despite former coach Kalen DeBoer’s departure, enrolled early for spring practices but was limited by injuries.
5. May the best QB win
Washington had two scholarship quarterbacks on the roster during spring practices. They were on opposite ends of the experience spectrum.
Fifth-year senior Will Rogers arrived at Washington as the SEC’s career completions record holder, 40 starts under his belt and 29 Mississippi State program records. True freshman Demond Williams Jr. followed Fisch from Arizona after enrolling early.
Fisch’s success at Arizona came, in part, because he had two capable quarterbacks. Starter Jayden de Laura led the Wildcats to a 3-1 start in 2023 before suffering an ankle injury. Fisch and quarterbacks coach Jimmie Dougherty, also now at Washington, turned to redshirt freshman Noah Fifita, who went 7-2 and never gave the job back to de Laura.
However, Fisch said he expects to name one starting quarterback and ride with him during the 2024 season. He added he doesn’t plan to create special packages for either quarterback if they don’t win the starting job.
“We’re going to let Will and Demond fight it out,” Fisch said. “The starting quarterback will be the starting quarterback, and then I don’t expect the next quarterback to go in unless there’s an injury or the score dictated that as of now.”
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