In the final practice open to the Washington Husky media and the first practice with full pads, the game day weather could not have been more perfect.  With the high temperature being the lowest since Fall Camp began, overcast with rain, and an area thunderclap or two sent the team indoors to Dempsey Center.

Arriving at Husky stadium to see gray in the sky, purple and gold on the field and the sounds of pads poppin’ is a welcome reminder that the Husky Football season is getting so close you can taste it.  Even watching the players stretch, you could see there was a little bit of extra juice pumping through the stadium as the DJ’s beat scored a backdrop of players clapping and coaches firing up the players in their position group. 

Defensive Coach William Inge, in particular, has a voice that carries across the stadium.  Without the benefit of a megaphone, he let the team know that “we got Coach Hart in the building!”  A few minutes later, legendary Husky defensive coach Randy Hart showed up.  Hart chatted with Coach Kalen DeBoer throughout the practice. 

Director of player personnel Courtney Morgan, the architect of Washington’s recent recruiting run, paced the field to start practice.  In the southwest corner of the field, the JUGS machine simulated punts, firing balls high into the air for the returners to catch while falling onto their backs.

After about 20 minutes outdoors, a light rain began to fall.  The precipitation went unnoticed by the team as they focused on each drill.

Unnoticed, that is until reports of thunder in the area were relayed and practice was quickly moved indoors to the Dempsey Center.  

Over the next two hours, the team had two separate 11-on-11 sessions.  Both sides made their plays and made their mistakes.  The offense had a great day, in particular the quarterbacks, who all had long scoring strikes.  Here are some key observations and plays I took note of during the 11 on 11 sessions:

• Will Nixon, the only player on the roster designated as an RB/WR looked far more like a traditional RB than a hybrid or gadget guy.  The Nebraska transfer got a lot of opportunities with fellow Big-10 transfer, QB Michael Penix.  While they had some success going outside they had a mixed bag of goods going into the middle of the defense.
• Sam Adams II, has not seen the field since becoming a Husky in 2020.  The son of former Seahawks offensive lineman and Pro Football Hall of Famer continues to shine this Fall Camp, getting plenty of opportunities both running the ball and catching the ball out of the backfield.  The former Eastside Catholic star looked confident, ripping off a few impressive runs in both 11-on-11 sessions.
• The receivers were very productive today.  Rome Odunze and Jalen McMillan both appear to be future NFL quality receivers.  Both moved in and out of cuts and made tough catches.   The added polish from new receivers coach JaMarcus Shephard was evident as the duo were frequently wide open.  Odunze had the longest play of the game with essentially an 86-yard strike from Dylan Morris. Ja’Lynn Polk demonstrated incredible toughness and focus as he caught two balls from Morris over the middle only to be hit hard by an oncoming safety.  Both catches elicited the cheers of the sidelines. The breakout WR for the day, however, was Taj Davis whom Sam Huard found on a scramble play into the left corner of the end zone.  On the very next play, Huard connected with Davis again for a 2 point conversion. After a productive passing play, I heard Coach Sheppard yell, “Not bad, I’ve seen better, but not bad!”
• The Quarterback pecking order got no clearer as Michael Penix, Dylan Morris, and Sam Huard each had terrific moments in both the drills and team periods.    As has been demonstrated through the first 5 practices there was a fluid rotation of the Quarterbacks getting equal opportunities to run plays with the 1’s and 2’s.  All three signal-callers were clean, not throwing interceptions today.  After six practices, new QB coach Ryan Grubb’s work is beginning to pay off with a minimal amount of overthrows or off-target deliveries.  Penix mishandled a Giles Jackson reverse, but on the next play, he hit Giles deep over the middle for a beautiful first down.  Morris, in addition to his 80-yard bomb to Odunze also hit tight end Jack Westover on a pretty fade route to the right side of the end zone.  Westover was making up for letting two TDs slip through his hands, he also connected with Sam Huard on a TD pass.  Huard looked sharp, particularly near the end of practice as he hit Taj Davis in the endzone on back-to-back plays.
• Defensively, number 10, Davon Banks stood out.  He was very active in the team periods deflecting multiply passes.  Despite giving up 3 inches knocked away a Huard screen pass intended for Taj Davis. After taking a solid hit, Davis and Banks tussled a bit before returning to the huddle.

The unfortunate news for today was the injury of supersized converted Defensive Lineman Ulumoo Ale.  After a hardnosed running play, Ale remained on the ground and practice got very silent suddenly.  The medical staff rushed to the field, assessed the situation, and determined that Ale needed an aircast.

Coach DeBoer was quick to move the team to the other side of the field to continue, while he waited and encouraged Ale as he was treated by the medical staff. 

Ale got a lot of love from his teammates as he was carted to the training facility medical room. This was a low point of practice, but there was still plenty of positive energy to go around.  

As we come to the conclusion of the media-friendly practices, Husky fans should be encouraged to hear that there are many reasons to be optimistic.  The 2022 Huskies will be much better than last year’s disappointing unit, and better than what many national pundits are predicting.

RealDawg.com will continue to bring blanket coverage throughout the rest of Fall Camp and the 2022 season.

Mike Martin and Warren Mainard contributed to this report.