SEATTLE — No one can reasonably expect Ed Donatell to turn Washington’s defense around overnight.
Only two weeks and seven practices into spring football, however, Washington’s new defensive coordinator is already starting to make his mark on the unit that was statically the worst in school history last season.
When the Huskies scrimmaged during an open practice last weekend, the offense looked to be well ahead of the defense. On Saturday, while the offense still had the slight upper hand, the defense held its own in the scrimmage, allowing only two touchdowns while coming up with stops on a much more frequent basis than the week before.
Sophomore safety Nate Williams, who noted that the defense was “Definitely better than last week,” said the players have noticed a difference with their new defensive coordinator.
“Just more energy, more enthusiasm,” said Williams. “Coach Donatell brings that to us. That just lifts our spirits up more. That makes it more fun for us, that’s the main difference I think. [He does that] in the meeting rooms, at practice he’ll run around, jump around with us. He’ll try to get into some of the drills. He doesn’t just get with the D-line, he’ll be everywhere. The whole defense sees him at different times and he’ll always help us with whatever we need.”
Williams and the rest of the secondary hope to be one of the pleasant surprises of 2008 after taking a lot of the blame last season for second-half collapses in losses to Arizona, Washington State and Hawaii. Donatell’s more aggressive style and his teaching methods have so far made the players believe they can make big improvements.
“Guys are able to really show what they’re capable of doing,” said cornerback Byron Davenport. “We’re not really sitting back, we’re really getting after it this year. We’re way more aggressive, way more physical. The schemes allow us to show what we have. Last year, things were different. It’s tough because we knew we had personnel, and a lot of guys didn’t really get a chance to show what they were capable of. Everyone has a part. Everyone has a part in this.”
Saturday’s practice saw solid play for an inexperienced defensive line, which put pressure on the quarterbacks, recording three “sacks” (quarterbacks are off limits for contact, and are therefore down with a touch) and limiting the running game. Aside from a 16-yard touchdown run by Brandon Johnson, the running game had few big runs.
“The defensive line looked real good and the linebackers looked good,” said Johnson. “They were filling their gaps real good. There wasn’t really nothing there for us.”
Kicking game solid: The improved defense led to more field-goal attempts during this weekend’s scrimmage, and the Husky kickers made five of six attempts. Erik Folk, who missed last season with a back injury, made kicks of 23 and 33 yards, and also had a nice kickoff inside the five. Last season’s starting kicker, Ryan Perkins, hit a 37-yarder, walk-on Cory Rutkowski was good from 32 yards, and Jared Ballman went 1-for-2 on a pair of 43-yard attempts.
Fouch improving: Backup quarterback Ronnie Fouch was much improved Saturday compared to the previous weekend. Fouch said that offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach Tim Lappano has made a few changes to the quarterback’s throwing motion, which has caused some of the struggles this spring while he adjusts to those changes.
“It felt good,” Fouch said of his day, which included a 39-yard completion to Charles Hawkins. “The past couple of days I’ve started to get on top of my throws and get back in the rhythm of the offense and everything. It think today was a big boost for me.”
Contact Herald Writer John Boyle at jboyle@heraldnet.com. For more on University of Washington sports, check out the Huskies blog at heraldnet.com /huskiesblog
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