Does UW have difference makers in its running backs room? Let’s assess the available options
There’s a critical difference between bodies and depth.
Which one does Washington have?
The Husky running backs will begin to answer that question against Boise State on Saturday. After assumed starter Cameron Davis went down for the season with a lower body injury, six scholarship running backs remain: senior Richard Newton, juniors Dillon Johnson and Daniyel Ngata, sophomores Will Nixon and Sam Adams II, and true freshman Tybo Rogers.
And while Johnson (6 feet 0, 218 pounds) and Nixon (5-11, 202) sat atop UW’s first weekly depth chart, the competition continues.
“It’ll be a combination of a bunch of guys, for sure,” UW offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb said Monday. “Unfortunately we’re a little bit in the position we were last year early in the season where the running back job was still wide open. I think that’s where we’re at. Obviously by the end of the season Cam [Davis] and Wayne [Taulapapa] had really cemented themselves as the 1 and 2. Right now it’s very much open.
“You hope with Tybo [Rogers] coming back that he can continue to progress in the offense and hopefully push in there to be somewhere in that mix. But Will [Nixon] does a great job. He’s getting better as a natural running back. Some of the guys are just getting healthy again, so we’re dealing with a lot of those things.”
Still, UW’s likely starter should not be a surprise. Regarding Johnson — a junior transfer from Mississippi State — head coach Kalen DeBoer acknowledged “we brought him in for a reason. He has continued in fall camp to climb and grasp the offense.”
Added UW running backs coach Lee Marks: “He’s definitely an alpha. He’s going to let you know exactly what he thinks, and he wants to be really, really good. If something is not good enough, he’s actually going to tell you, ‘Coach, that’s not good enough. At all. I was really, really bad on that play, and I need to be better. I will be better. I promise you.’ He doesn’t mind saying that to other guys, either.”
Johnson is the room’s most tantalizing athlete, a big back with the ability to break tackles (1,198 rushing yards, 5.2 yards per carry and 11 touchdowns in three seasons at MSU) and catch passes (149 catches for 864 yards and 1 TD in 35 games) in open space. His skill set will effortlessly fit in the Husky offense.
But other elements of the transition are not so simple.
“I’m here to help everybody, just like they’re here to help me,” Johnson said this month. “I told [the other running backs] their football IQ was way beyond mine [when I arrived], because under Mike Leach we didn’t do as much motion. We just ran a lot of mesh, a lot of swing routes. Of course you had to catch the ball. But this is a totally, totally different ballgame. Coach Grubb does a great job of putting us in different positions to show our complete skill set.”
Johnson also is continuing to recover from a knee injury he reaggravated last spring, followed by a small procedure. But Grubb said last week, “If he had 15, 20 touches in a game I don’t think he’d have a problem with that.”
Oh, and speaking of catching the ball: Nixon can do that, too. He played both running back and wide receiver at Midway (Texas) High School, before shifting full time to wideout at Nebraska in 2020 and 2021. The transfer logged 89 rushing yards, 4.2 yards per carry, seven catches, 66 receiving yards and two touchdowns in a limited role at UW last fall. But after adding 10 pounds of muscle this offseason, Nixon’s skill set has continued to expand.
Of course, UW touts more than two tailbacks with Pac-12 production. Newton (971 rushing yards and 16 TDs in 26 games), Ngata (689 rushing yards, 5.1 YPC and 6 TDs in three seasons at Arizona State) and Adams (75 total yards and 2 TDs in nine games last season) have each proven capable in the past.
But Rogers – a 5-11, 185-pound freshman from Bakersfield, Calif. – remains Washington’s wild card. After enrolling early and impressing throughout the spring, Rogers was suspended for a violation of team rules and missed the majority of preseason practices.
But when asked which freshmen have the talent and opportunity to sidestep a redshirt, DeBoer still said his name.
“That’s up to him. That’s solely in his hands,” Grubb added last week, when asked if Rogers will still contribute this fall. “All the tools and assistance will be there to make him a great player this year. He does not have to wait. If he’s able to maintain team rules and do things the way he’s supposed to do them and live up to his potential, he’ll be out there helping us.
“But this last two and a half weeks, he hurt the football team. There’s no way to sugarcoat it. He hurt the team, and he knows that. He can’t live in that. He has to move on and move forward. That’s what we’re trying to do with him, so we’ll see how he does with it.”
The goal, of course, is to collectively surpass the production Taulapapa (887 rush yards, 6.3 YPC, 11 rush TDs, 225 receiving yards, a receiving TD) and Davis (522 rush yards, 4.9 YPC, 13 TDs, 137 receiving yards) provided in 2022.
Which includes ample protection for standout passer Michael Penix Jr. – who was sacked just five times last season – as well.
“A lot of scouts say my technique is not the prettiest thing,” Johnson admitted. “In my opinion, if the quarterback doesn’t get sacked, I feel like I’ve done my job. I’m a guy that’s going to stick my nose in there and make sure 9 [Penix] never gets touched. That has to be the motto. If we want to go where we’re trying to go, that just can’t happen. We can’t allow that.”
To get where Washington wants to go, the Huskies need reliable running back play …
Which transcends touchdowns and talent.
“When we came out there every day Cam [Davis] was the guy to go hardest in walk-throughs, meetings, whatever it was. He attacked it,” Grubb said. “He’s the epitome of what you want guys to be. So it’ll be very difficult to replace him and get someone to line up back there with the production Cam would have. That room’s got to step up, though. We’ll see what happens.”