‘I’ll do whatever it takes for this team to win.’ UW tailback Sean McGrew contributed in backfield, on special teams in season debut
Sean McGrew took the handoff from his quarterback Dylan Morris on an inside zone run, made a jump cut to his left through two Arkansas State defenders at the line of scrimmage, and scurried toward the end zone.
“Once we called that play, I lined up and I was like, ‘Alright, this has got to be a touchdown, like it’s going to be a touchdown,’ ” McGrew said Tuesday, reflecting on his first score of the season. “And then it kind of just all happened after that.”
What happened next was Morris tossed his hands in the air, hyping up the crowd, as McGrew crossed the goal line for the 13-yard touchdown. Jalen McMillan clapped his hands around McGrew’s helmet in celebration.
And McGrew, the Huskies’ sixth-year senior tailback, dropped the ball to the turf behind him, and let out an resounding roar before he was enveloped by his teammates.
“Honestly, there’s times when I’m playing football, where you go into a zone where you’re not really like yourself, you’re like a whole different person on the field,” he said. “And I feel like that was just one of those moments where I had a lot of pent up emotions and energy, and a lot of things inside of me.
“And just getting to the end zone and just letting it out, honestly I don’t know what I said, or what I was doing, it was kind of just all happening, and just came out of me in the way it came out. As coach (Jimmy) Lake would say, just you’ve got to reach into that dark place inside of you, bring it out and let it fuel you on the field, and I feel like that’s what I was doing.”
Saturday’s win over Arkansas State — a cathartic 52-3 rout following two deflating losses — was Washington’s first of the season.
It was also the first time this season McGrew, who finished the game with six carries, 31 yards and a pair of touchdowns, appeared in the backfield.
McGrew led the Huskies in rushing during the shortened season last fall, finishing with 43 carries for 227 yards and four touchdowns.
But, this season, prior to last weekend, Richard Newton and Cameron Davis were the two in UW’s stacked running backs room sharing snaps, and were the only two tailbacks who recorded carries against Montana and Michigan.
“It’s definitely frustrating, always, when you feel like you can do something, be a game-changer, and do something that will help the team win the game,” McGrew said. “But, at the end of the day, we’re all a brotherhood and we’ve got to support whoever’s in here, and help them out, and just see if there’s anything we can tell them to help them out on the field, and help them do better.
“And obviously it’s tough and it’s frustrating, but at the end of the day we’re a team, and I’ll do whatever it takes for this team to win.”
McGrew has done that throughout his career at UW. After redshirting the 2016 season, he has played in 37 games for the Huskies, compiling 885 rushing yards and 10 touchdowns on his 171 attempts.
He has been a steady contributor each season, including rushing for a career-high 342 yards his junior season in 2019, and has eclipsed 200 yards each of the past three.
In deciding to return for a sixth season — players across college football were given an extra year of eligibility following the shortened 2020 season — McGrew noted he wanted to continue to grow not only in his own game, but contribute to the Huskies’ development as a team.
“I just wanted to come in here, and just come to work every day, and just get better and progress my game, and just progress everybody’s game around us, and around me in the running back room,” he said. “We come in and we’re a squad. We don’t really care like who’s playing, who’s not playing. We all support each other. We’re brothers and we want to be the best running back room in the country.
“Obviously when all of us are getting the ball, it’s really nice, and we work well together. But, when we’re not, it’s alright and it’s just time to support another brother, and once we get our opportunity, we’ve just got to take advantage of it.”
McGrew took advantage of his opportunities Saturday. His first carry of the season, a 3-yard gain on UW’s second drive, earned a warm welcome from the crowd when his name was called over the speaker.
“I feel like I did notice it a little bit but, I’m very good at tuning the crowd out once I’m out there,” he said. “But, it’s definitely awesome that Husky Nation was excited to just see me back out there, and just definitely felt like home.”
McGrew played 10 offensive snaps during the game, per Pro Football Focus, and scored on two of them.
His first touchdown in the first quarter was the second in a series of four for the Huskies in the first half, which gave them a commanding lead. His second touchdown was late in the third quarter, when he pushed his way across the goal line for a 2-yard score to make it a five-touchdown advantage for UW.
But, that wasn’t all McGrew contributed Saturday. He was also a somewhat new addition to UW’s special teams unit.
“Special teams is something I haven’t really done here besides just returning kickoffs,” he said. “And they put me out there in practice, and I thought it was just a fun challenge and something new that I get to learn and progress at, and learn a new craft.
“It was exciting. So, I gave it my all in practice, and I got out there on game day and it was really fun.”
And he made a noticeable impact in the new role.
“Sean made a huge difference on special teams,” Huskies coach Jimmy Lake said postgame Saturday. “We had him on kickoff and on punt as well. He started on both of those teams. He showed up in practice as one of our best guys. And we tell our team that, ‘Hey, tough physical play is always going to be rewarded,’ and Sean went out there on Tuesday and he was easily one of the toughest, physical guys during this segment of practice that we did on Tuesday.
“We put him up higher on the depth chart, and you saw what he did on special teams and then you saw also what he did on offense.”
This story was originally published September 21, 2021 at 5:32 PM with the headline "‘I’ll do whatever it takes for this team to win.’ UW tailback Sean McGrew contributed in backfield, on special teams in season debut."
