All of the talk has been about how much productivity the Washington Huskies lost–and it was a ton, but let’s flip the script and talk about what the producers UW gained.
Firstly, UW has regained a healthy Cameron Davis who missed the entirety of the 2023 season. Later in this story, I’ll point out why his name is so important for the offense to re-emerge in 2024.
But there’s highly-touted transfer 5-9, 225-pound Stockton, California native, Jonah Coleman who followed Jedd Fisch from Arizona.
He is rated as one of the top returning running backs in the nation, with a Pro Football Focus grade of 91.3.
Coleman is incredibly well-rounded, beyond his bowling ball-like stature. He was the only running back in the country with 90.0-plus grades as both a rusher and receiver for much of the 2023 season. He amassed 283 yards in 25 receptions for an average of 11.3 yards a catch.
His PFF Grade last season was 5th among RBs. Much of his productivity is due to his individual effort and build where 5.2 of his 6.8 yards per carry came after contact.
Coleman-Dillon Johnson Comparison
Coleman carried the ball 128 times for 871 6.8 yards for the Wildcats while his Washington counterpart, Dillon Johnson had 233 carries for 1,198–5.1 yards per carry.
Giving Coleman the number of carries that Johnson had would have netted him 1,585 total yards. Yes, different schemes but that offers an insight into his effectiveness as a ball carrier. He’s a quality pass catcher, as well.
In the passing game, Coleman had 1 fewer reception than Johnson yet Coleman had 93 more yards.
Finally, in the two back comparisons, Dillon Johnson’s pass protection grade is 70.5 Coleman is equally adept in pass protection only allowing 2 QB pressures and no sacks in 67 opportunities.
Fun Facts
Last season, Washington ran 787 offensive plays (411 pass, 376 rush) for 6,931 yards of total offense while the Wildcats 5,824 yards on 730 plays (398 passing, 332 rush).
Davis and Wayne Taulapapa teamed up to produce more rushing touchdowns than passing touchdowns for Washington in 2022. Your eyes aren’t deceiving you.
Coleman had a modest 5 rushing TDs and a receiving TD in 2023, but more should be expected out of the Arizona transfer this coming season.
Coleman accounted for 51-percent of the Wildcats’ 1,707 rushing yards by running backs.
While Coleman was the workhorse in the offensive backfield there were significant contributions by two other Wildcat backs.
76-percent of Washington’s rushing yards went to its top 3 backs last season.
Cameron Davis is Back
Cameron Davis is an addition to Washington’s 2024 offensive squad that didn’t come via the Transfer Portal. He was looking to be a big part of the 2023 offense before being sidelined due to a lower leg injury.
Here’s a look at his 2022 season. Davis’ 4.9 yards per carry doesn’t do his contribution justice as much as his yards were inside the Red Zone. He led Washington with 13 rushing TDs that year while sharing the load with Wayne Taulapapa.
In 2022 the 6-0, 212 Rancho Cucamonga, California-native had 32-percent of the yards but had 52-percent of the TDs—including a slithering, twisting 3-yard score in Eugene to give the Huskies a 20-17 lead.
As Washington’s number two back, 13 of his 107 carries went for scores, fumbling just once in the season’s final regular season game.
More to that point, 8 of his 13 touchdowns were on goal-to-go situations with 2 yards or less. Taking out those situations he averaged 5.1 yards per carry. Additionally, 25-percent of his carries were in short-yardage situations. 27 carries for 96 yards and 8 TDs in short-yardage situations.
At the running back position, it’s hard to imagine a better backfield duo than Coleman and Davis. Throw in Daniyel Ngata, Adam Mohammad, and Sam Adams and the Huskies are as deep as they have been in since 2017 with Myles Gaskin, Salvon Ahmed and Lavon Coleman.
