Here’s a list of five things that stood out as the Huskies took out BYU on the road Saturday afternoon in Provo.
Jacob Eason continues to show he is ELITE
Eason started the game on fire and didn’t let up all day. He was 4-5 for 57 yards and a touchdown on the first drive of the game including an impressive play where he felt the pressure coming from his blindside spun out and found Richard Newton in the back corner of the endzone for the first TD of the game. He continued to make great throws throughout the first half including some that were absolutely jaw dropping. At half time he was 18 of 20 with 2 touchdown throws. In the second half he continued to throw strike after strike and when BYU got impatient and started blitzing he read it perfectly and hit Baccellia for a TD. In the fourth quarter he did get a little too confident in his abilities and tried to force a ball that was intercepted, taken down to the 7 yard line and set up a touchdown. But overall Eason looked like a future NFL first round pick, making every throw you could expect of him.
Elijah Molden carried the torch for the Husky DBs
In a game where Keith Taylor was stuck in a tough match up covering BYU TE Bushman, Elijah Molden had a standout performance. He finished the day with 4 tackles and 4 pass breakups. Each one of his pass breakups probably should have been intercepted. He seemed to be in great position in coverage all day and made a few great plays on the ball but he couldn’t hang on to the interceptions. Dropping interceptions isn’t a problem that I would expect to continue with Molden, he won Best Hands in spring 2018 in a group that included Byron Murphy and Taylor Rapp.
Freshman roles continue to grow
This year looks like it will be a transition year for a few postions where we lost key guys from last season. Richard Newton is the lone freshman getting meaningful reps on offense. His role grew this week with Ahmed out with injury but he continues to excel as the redzone back scoring another touchdown this week putting him at 5 touchdowns in 4 games. On defense Trent McDuffie has continued to show why he was such a highly touted recruit. He is getting reps with the first team defense and made a couple great plays today including a play where he made a great hit on a wide receiver forcing the fumble then showed the awareness to get on top of the ball before BYU could jump on it. Along the defensive line Tuli and Taki continue to rotate in at defensive tackle and really help bolster the run defense. Laiatu Latu continues to get important reps at OLB just missing on a couple sacks today he finished the day with 3 solo tackles. Asa Turner got in the game in the fourth quarter and he got his first career interception on a play where the receiver fell down along the sideline he was able to make the catch and keep both feet in bounds. Not to mention freshman safety Cameron Williams who continues to start at safety and looks more and more comfortable every game. The more reps these freshman are getting the less they look like freshman, hopefully the Huskies start to get some guys on offense some reps too.
Hunter Bryant looks like an All American TE and future first round pick
Hunter Bryant is an absolute weapon on offense, total match up nightmare for opposing defenses. On the first drive of the game on third and 7 he got matched up man to man with a defensive back, he ran a simple short crossing route caught the ball short of the first down but was able to run away from the defense for a 21 yard gain. He is too big and strong to be covered by a defensive back but too fast to cover with a linebacker. He finished the game with 4 catches for 49 yards. With Hunters ability and the difficulty it puts on defenses to try and cover him with linebackers, he needs to be targeted more in the offensive game plan.
The running back room looks deeper than the past few years
The past few years UW has had Myles Gaskin but he was a one man wrecking crew. This year we knew it would be Ahmed, but weren’t sure who would step up behind him. Ahmed has elite speed and the ability to make guys miss and score from anywhere on the field, but there was a question coming into the year of who will get the carries between the tackles and in the redzone. In a game where Ahmed was unavailable with a previously unheard of injury McGrew and Newton stepped up to show what they could do. McGrew had 18 carries for 110 yards including a 36 yard run right up the middle. McGrew looks comfortable running both inside and outside as well as a more than capable receiver out of the backfield and in the screen game. Richard Newton continues to show his ability as a short yardage, redzone back. He had 16 carries for 80 yards and a touchdown. He also had a touchdown catch where he got lost behind the defense and Eason found him in the back corner of the endzone. Coach Petersen said Ahmed will be week to week meaning he could miss next week’s game vs USC, if that is the case McGrew and Newton look like they are ready for the extra carries in his absence.
