QB Carta-Samuels’ improved play makes him valuable insurance policy for Washington Huskies

SEATTLE – It was suggested to Chris Petersen the other day that veteran quarterback K.J. Carta-Samuels appeared to be exuding a new-found confidence in his fourth fall camp with the Huskies.

“He should be brimming with confidence. He’s played well,” said Petersen, entering his fourth season as the Washington coach.

Carta-Samuels, a 6-foot-2, 225-pound redshirt junior from Saratoga, California, was the first quarterback Petersen recruited to UW, as part of the 2014 class.

His meaningful opportunities on the field since then have been sparse: There was the final drive against Oregon in 2015, ending in an interception, when he was pressed into action after Jake Browning exited with a shoulder injury. There was his first, and only, start a week later at Stanford, ending in a loss.

He did play well in a mop-up role during UW’s many blowout victories last season. In nine games, he completed 9 of 13 passes for 104 yards with three touchdowns and no turnovers. He even got on the field in the national semifinal against Alabama, lining up as a tight end before motioning under center and plunging 3 yards ahead for a first down on the sneakiest of QB sneaks.

With the departure of Tony Rodriguez, who left the team this summer to focus on his young family, Carta-Samuels is the only other experienced QB on the roster, besides Browning, which makes Carta-Samuels a valuable insurance policy. With Browning still recovering from shoulder surgery in April, Carta-Samuels got the majority of the first-team snaps during spring practices, and the extra work has given him extra confidence this month.

“I feel like a completely different player, honestly, than I’ve ever played before,” he sad. “In terms of the confidence piece, it’s all there. I love it. I enjoy it. It’s made me just allow to enjoy playing this game with my guys on this team. It has been amazing. I am playing my best right now. I just feel good. I enjoy every day, and I feel truly getting better every day.”

In high school, Carta-Samuels ran a double-wing offense and was rarely asked to throw. It took him some time to learn the Huskies’ “multiple” offense, but the experience is showing now.

“I am very confident in the way I’m throwing the ball,” he said. “I don’t know if it’s mechanically something I focused on in the offseason. When you feel like that, when you feel like you can throw ball anywhere at any time, it’s a pretty powerful feeling, and so I am really using that and really harnessing that right now. It feels great.”

Petersen sees it.

“You can’t fake confidence,” the coach said. “You have to earn confidence through your execution and all your hours you put in, and he’s done both of those things.”

Carta-Samuels has said he never gave serious thought to transferring when Browning won the starting job in 2015. After this season, though, he is expected to have options as a fifth-year graduate transfer, when he would be able to move to another school and be eligibile to play immediately in 2018. Until then, he’ll continue to be an important veteran presence for the UW offense.

“He’s done a really nice job. Really proud of K.J. He comes to work every day to get better and it’s showing up,” Petersen said.

Meanwhile, strong-armed true freshman Jake Haener is making a strong push for the No. 3 QB job in his competition with redshirt freshman Daniel Bridge-Gadd.

“He’s pretty poised for a young guy,” Petersen said of Haener earlier this month. “That’s the one position where it’s like you can get overwhelmed in a hurry. We’re asking him to get us in and out of some plays as well. Heck, our snap count can be confusing at times for a quarterback to learn. And I think he’s done a really nice job mentally. You can see him throw. He can throw the ball. Pleased with him.”