Impressions from the first day of Washington Huskies fall camp: Start your engines … the QB competition is on

SEATTLE – The first day of fall football camp at Husky Stadium was such a big thing Friday that the Blue Angels showed up.

OK, maybe it was coincidence that the Blue Angels were flying as the first practice of the season was starting, but it proved quite a backdrop for what Husky defensive coordinator Jimmy Lake said is a special day.

“There is a lot of excitement,” Lake said. “You’ve got some rookies who have never played college football in a real practice and you want to see how they are going to react. That is a great icebreaker for everyone and I am sure a lot of the young guys are saying that was faster than I thought it would be, but are showering up and saying, ‘That was fun and I can’t wait to get back out here tomorrow.’ The first day is always special.”

Practice began about 10 minutes before the scheduled time of 3:05 p.m. and wrapped up about a half-hour before the scheduled end at 5:05.

All eyes on the QBs

Practice reps were evenly distributed between the four quarterbacks: junior Jacob Eason, who most consider the favorite, sophomore Jake Haener, redshirt freshman Jacob Sirmon and freshman Dylan Morris.

Most of Eason’s attempts during team drills were short passes to the running backs, but he threw a perfect fade route of about 35 yards to David Pritchard during one drill.

Haener threw more deep passes and had one the best passes in the first series of 11-on-11 drills, a 20-yard out route to Ty Jones.

Morris had a tough start to 11-on-11 drills with the first snap going over his head.

Later, he threw a ball that was picked off by Nick Juran, which produced the biggest cheer of the day from the defense, and was the only interception.

Extra protection

The offensive and defensive linemen were wearing guardian caps over their helmets for added protection.

“You can’t stop them from banging heads, so it is a way to minimize blows,” co-defensive coordinator Pete Kwiatkowski said.

… and finally

Several teammates cheered when receiver Chico McClatcher caught a short pass from Haener. McClatcher, the former Federal Way High School star, left the team last year in October but has returned for his senior season.

Redshirt freshman receiver Trey Lowe had the catch of the day, a one-handed snag of about a 35-yard pass down the middle of the field from Moore. Runner-up goes to freshman receiver Puka Nacua, who brought down a deep sideline pass after it bounced off the defender’s head.