Roman Tomashoff
August 11, 2024 8:26 am PT
The Washington Huskies’ defense continues to look like one of the most inventive units in the country. On Saturday, Jedd Fisch’s team held its first fall scrimmage, and during the first half, Washington had a lot of trouble moving the ball on defensive coordinator Steve Belichick’s group.
With center Landen Hatchett back in the fold for a handful of drives with the first-team offense, the interior of the offensive line looked a little stronger than it has so far during camp, but Belichick’s defense was still able to create pressure from a host of different angles. Part of that was thanks to the team’s other highly anticipated injured player, Zach Durfee, who recorded a sack and a few pressures as he played his most snaps yet this fall.
Quarterbacks Will Rogers, Demond Williams Jr., and co. responded with a much better showing in the second half. The offense didn’t find the end zone until after the break when running back Daniyel Ngata bounced a run to the outside and was able to sneak inside the pylon from 7 yards away.
After practice, Rogers called Belichick’s defense the toughest scheme he’s had to face over his college football career.
“They throw a lot of different looks at you,” the Mississippi State transfer said. “I’ve played college football for four years now and this is some of the most unique looks I’ve ever seen coming from a defense. It’s challenging, and at the same time, it excites me because I feel like this could be the most difficult looks I see this whole year.”
Here’s more from Montlake.
Sacks galore
As Jedd Fisch “continues to find the right group of five,” thanks to a combination of the scheme and talent up front, the defense got consistent pressure on the quarterbacks all night long.
“I could show you plenty of plays in a game where in a practice, someone could say they were sacked,” Fisch said. “And then in a game, they weren’t sacked, and it was a 25-30 yard play down the field. The quarterback scrambled around and made a play. They don’t always get sacked with someone near them.”
That said, I counted the sacks anyway… I credited edge rusher Jayden Wayne with 3 total sacks, 2 credited to him and he combined with Deshawn Lynch twice, who also had a solo sack, giving him 2 on the day. By my tally, Durfee, defensive lineman Voi Tunuufi, and linebackers Bryun Parham and Khmori House all hit home.
Inventive pressure looks
Outside of the sacks, the quarterbacks were under duress all night thanks to all the different sorts of pressure Belichick’s defense can throw at the opposition. Rushers can come from anyone, anywhere, at any time, and the scheme does a great job disguising where the rush was coming from and led to unblocked blitzers on several different occasions.
Injury updates
Fisch said that by the middle of the week, he’s expecting that a number of players will be “full go,” including Hatchett, Durfee, safeties Kamren Fabiculanan and Makell Esteen, and running back Jonah Coleman. He also added that safety Cameron Broussard dislocated a finger during Saturday’s practice and needed to be held out for a few days.
Harrington's pick
Oklahoma transfer Justin Harrington recorded the only turnover of the day when wide receiver Denzel Boston had a pass from Rogers go through his hands before it was batted up into the air by cornerback Ephesians Prysock and almost secured by tight end Quentin Moore, but it was wrestled away by Harrington.
Plays of the day
Offensively, the play of the day went to walk-on wide receiver Luke Luchini, who made a leaping grab to secure a 23-yard touchdown on a perfectly thrown ball from quarterback Shea Kuykendall late in the scrimmage.
Defensively, Bryun Parham made the biggest hit yet in fall camp. With wide receiver Giles Jackson coming across the middle, the San Jose State transfer hit him square in the chest and knocked his helmet clean off. Thankfully for everyone involved, nobody was injured and Jackson returned to action shortly after.
Other big plays
Jackson bounced back in a big way and made a fantastic grab in the end zone, reaching around cornerback Jordan Shaw where it looked like he may have gotten a foot down, but after a long discussion, the referees ruled that he was out of bounds.
Demond Williams Jr. formed a nice connection with both wide receiver Keith Reynolds, who he looked to early and often on Saturday, and tight end Decker DeGraaf. He found his tight end for a handful of big gains, including a 25-yard touchdown on an out and up route.
Cameron Davis punched in the first-team offense’s only touchdown of the day from one yard out.
