With another scrimmage in the books, the big question of the day, (or every day really when you’re following a football team) is who’s standing out at the quarterback position?
“Its been a solid week for all three of them,” head coach Kalen DeBoer said following Friday’s practice. “[Michael Penix] can make some things happen in tough situations, he can backpedal out of there and buy a split second. You can see his arm talent show in those situations in the way he’s able to get rid of the ball. [Dylan Morris] has been really consistent all spring, and Sam [Huard] had a great touchdown throw towards the end of practice today. All three guys have had their times when they showed up.”
But as we know, a quarterback can only take you so far. To quote Gisele Bünchden during Super Bowl XLVI, “[Tom Brady] can’t throw and catch the ball at the same time.” And whoever’s playing quarterback for the Huskies won’t have to worry about that with the receiving corps the DeBoer and his offense will be able to roll out this fall.
Between Jalen McMillan and Rome Odunze, Washington will have two of the best deep threats in the conference outside the numbers, and a combination of Ja’Lynn Polk and Giles Jackson. When asked about Jackson, DeBoer had high praise for the Michigan transfer.
“Giles has been all over the place,” DeBoer said. “He’s such a versatile guy and I had a conversation with him during warmups today about how great he’s doing. He’s taking handoffs, getting the ball in all different ways, and working the slot a little bit. He’s also playing a little bit on the outside, and I feel like he’s one of those guys, from the first day he lined up this spring, he’s not a different guy, but he’s improved every single day this spring.”
The offense is the biggest question going into the season, and it feels like DeBoer and co. have everything figured out on the offensive side of the ball. While we probably won’t be seeing the dominant Husky defenses of old that fans have become accustomed to during the Petersen/Lake era, there’s still a ton of talent at every level of the defense, and the Washington head man’s eyes lit up when he talked about redshirt freshman defensive tackle Kuao Peihopa.
“I’m really proud of that guy,” DeBoer said. “He’s really matured mentally, and physically he’s in there causing problems, he’s tough, he can move, he plays hard, and I thought he had a really nice scrimmage today. I can’t wait to go back and watch his film from today.”
With time winding down for the spring season, fans certainly have a lot to be excited about. With an open practice coming on Saturday, April 23rd, and the spring preview on Saturday, April 30th, the fans (and media) will finally get a chance to observe more of the changes DeBoer has made to the Husky program.
