10 takeaways from the Washington Huskies’ scrimmage
The Washington Huskies are two weeks away from opening the 2021 football season, and the excitement is growing.
Saturday afternoon, fans filled the seats — the stands on the southern side of Husky Stadium were as full as they have been during open practices this month — to watch as the program put on a two-hour scrimmage on Montlake.
“Especially seeing fans in the crowd — it was just fun,” junior tight end Cade Otton said. “Just a little more energy.”
The fans cheered as three quarterbacks — last year’s starter Dylan Morris, who is expected to resume his role this fall, five-star freshman Sam Huard, and walk-on freshman Camden Sirmon — led the Huskies offense on 16 drives during the scrimmage.
Four ended with touchdowns, three more ended with field goal tries, six ended with punts and one ended with a safety.
Here are 10 takeaways from the scrimmage, which was the final practice of fall camp open to media members, including unofficial stats:
▪ Taj Davis always seemed to be open — and he caught nearly every pass thrown in his direction. Davis was targeted more than any other receiver, consistently found open space, and finished with 12 catches for 186 yards on passes from both Morris and Huard. All but two of his catches were for 10 or more yards.
Davis hasn’t appeared in a regular season game since wrapping up his career at California’s Upland High School back in 2018, where he tallied 2,239 yards and 23 touchdowns in three seasons. He redshirted his first season with UW in 2019, then opted out of the shortened season last winter, but has shown in recent days — he also caught a 15-yard touchdown pass from Morris during the final 11-on-11 period in Friday’s practice — how he could factor into the Huskies’ offense moving forward.
“We always talk about, you know, practice execution becomes game reality,” Huskies coach Jimmy Lake said. “And he was doing it in practice, doing it in practice, showed up in the spring game, and he’s been doing it in practice in training camp, and now he shows up in one of our biggest scrimmages of this training camp. He’s just like everybody. We still have things to improve on. But, it’s awesome watching Taj take that next step in his game.”
▪ Speaking of wide receivers, Lake said this is the “toughest, grittiest” group UW has had.
“They’re competitive,” Lake said. “They don’t back down. They go up and get the ball. I’ve shown numerous plays to our whole team of those guys competing against our top guys on defense and they’re coming down with the football. Again, if they do that in practice, that’s going to happen in the game.
“But, what I also really love about what they’re doing right now is they’re blocking the right people in the run game, and they’re having the toughness to go block that safety, go block that defensive end, go block that inside linebacker, where maybe in years past that hasn’t been the case. So I’m very proud of that group.”
UW’s receivers accounted for 310 of the Huskies’ 472 yards through the air, led by Davis. Giles Jackson, Ja’Lynn Polk, Rome Odunze, Sawyer Racanelli and David Pritchard were the other receivers who caught at least one pass. Odunze caught the first touchdown of the afternoon on a 27-yard pass from Morris, and Racanelli elevated in the end zone to snag a 16-yard touchdown pass from Huard that ended the scrimmage.
Huskies junior Terrell Bynum, the most experienced pass catcher in the receivers group, did not play in the scrimmage. Freshman Jalen McMillan, another potential starter, has not played since leaving practice with an apparent hand injury Monday.
▪ Morris led the offense on six drives, three of which ended in touchdowns, and finished unofficially 17-of-26 passing for 221 yards, two passing touchdowns and another rushing touchdown.
After the first drive of the scrimmage resulted in a quick punt, Morris led the offense on a nine-play, 66-yard yard scoring drive his next opportunity. He converted a fourth-and-2 right before firing the 27-yard touchdown pass over the middle to Odunze.
Morris’ following drive ended in a punt, and another promising drive was cut short when time expired in the half, but his final two drives resulted in two more touchdowns. He capped a 13-play, 70-yard drive with a 3-yard touchdown run, and his final drive, which spanned 14 plays and 99 yards, ended with a 15-yard scoring toss to running back Kamari Pleasant.
▪ Here’s what Otton, Morris’ leading receiver during the four-game season last winter, said of the quarterback’s growth since his arrival in 2019: “It’s been fun to watch. I think you see the growth. It hasn’t been something where it’s been stagnant or you’ve seen him regress. It’s been constantly getting better, constantly making better reads, constantly having more control of the offense. You’re seeing an elite quarterback coming in today and moving the ball down the field and I’m excited to work with him going forward.”
▪ Graduate transfer quarterback Patrick O’Brien, who was running the No. 2 offense earlier in camp, did not play in the scrimmage. He also did not participate in Friday’s practice and was seen earlier on that morning with a brace on his right hand. Without O’Brien, Huard led the No. 2 offense on Saturday, and Sirmon the No. 3 offense.
Huard unofficially finished 17-of-30 passing for 225 yards, and ended his sixth and final drive with the 16-yard toss to Racanelli. Two more of Huards drives ended with made field goals.
▪ Huard, who departed Kennedy Catholic High School in the spring as the all-time leader in passing yards in state history, continues to look more comfortable in his first season in UW’s offense.
“He’s very smart, he works at this thing, he works extra, he comes into meetings early, he stays late, you can see when he makes a mistake he knows why he made the mistake so he can correct it the next time, and you’re just going to see him continue to develop,” Lake said.
▪ Each of the seven running backs UW played in the scrimmage had at least two carries. Pleasant led all rushers with six carries for 48 yards and the one receiving touchdown. Cameron Davis had seven carries, while Sean McGrew and Richard Newton each finished with six.
▪ For the second consecutive practice, the offense did not turn the ball over by interception or fumble.
“I think this camp has been the best performance an offense has put up that I’ve been around,” Otton said. “And I think it just goes to the scheme we’re running, and the players we have and the confidence we’ve been able to build with the reps and the time together. It’s just coming together at the right time, and it’s fun to be a part of.”
▪ But, with two weeks of camp remaining, sophomore linebacker Edefuan Ulofoshio sees the Huskies’ defense coming together, too. “I think we’re in a really good spot,” he said. “I think that as a unit-wise, we are all very comfortable. We know what we’re doing out there and we’re just very anxious but very patient in trying to maximize every single day to try to get better before Game 1, but I’m very confident in this defense and what we’re doing out there.”
▪ Kicker Peyton Henry connected on 1-of-2 field goal attempts, making his attempt from 36 yards. He was 2-for-2 on extra point tried. Tim Horn made his one field goal attempt of 22 yards and both of his extra point tries.
▪ Lake made note of the importance of having fans returning to Husky Stadium for games this season for the first time since the 2019 Apple Cup.
“We need you Husky Nation for all seven games,” he said. “We only get seven guaranteed in this amazing stadium, we miss you guys, and we’re going to need your support for all seven of them.”
Here are the dates for the seven home games UW plays this season, with most times still to be announced:
Sept. 4 vs. Montana, 5 p.m.
Sept. 18 vs. Arkansas State
Sept. 25 vs. California
Oct. 16 vs. UCLA
Nov. 6 vs. Oregon
Nov. 13 vs. Arizona State
Nov. 26 vs. Washington State
This story was originally published August 21, 2021 at 7:25 PM with the headline "10 takeaways from the Washington Huskies’ scrimmage."
