Can the Huskies’ home run hitters keep dangerous Boise State QB Taylen Green out of the end zone?
SEATTLE – In a battle between home run hitters, who will win?
(This is not a baseball story.)
It’s a story that will start and end on Saturday, when No. 10 Washington hosts Boise State – and cleanup hitter/quarterback Taylen Green – inside Husky Stadium.
Green – the reigning Mountain West Freshman of the Year – threw (2,042 pass yards, 61.3% completions, 14 pass TDs, six INTs) and ran (586 rush yards, 7.2 yards per carry, 10 TDs) with regularity in his starting debut in 2022.
“He is scary,” UW coach Kalen DeBoer said this week. “He makes people look pretty ridiculous sometimes. It doesn’t have to be out in space, just in tight quarters. He’s shifty. He’s got another gear when it comes to hitting home runs. He did that a year ago.
“He’s got another year under his belt; he’s got a full offseason. They’ve got a new offensive coordinator with (former UW offensive coordinator Bush) Hamdan there and they’ve had time to dial in what they want. They know what we’re going to look like for the most part on both sides of the ball, but Taylen is certainly a guy that we’re going to have to make sure we keep under control.”
Which, of course, is easier said than done.
But the Huskies also have home run hitters.
Specifically, UW finished tied for 21st nationally in sacks per game (2.85) in 2022. The Huskies tout a pair of proven pass rushers (Bralen Trice and Zion Tupuola-Fetui) and a veteran linebacker corps (Edefuan Ulofoshio, Alphonzo Tuputala, Ralen Goforth and Carson Bruener).
Trice – a 6-foot-4, 274-pound junior – led the Power Five with 67 pressures in the regular season, and finished with 12 tackles for loss and nine sacks. But when asked about the sacks that slipped through his grasp, he said “there’s a lot of things that keep me up at night, and I wake up in the morning and go, ‘Damn, if I could go back and redo that …’ Or you’re taking a shower and in your mind it’s like, ‘Damn, I wish I could have finished on that play.’
“But I take those things and I learn from them and I try to use those to make myself a better player this season.”
After earning first-team All-Pac-12 honors in 2022, can Trice really be that much better?
“He’s way better,” UW co-defensive coordinator Chuck Morrell said . “It’s super exciting for us right now. It’s great because you look at the daily competition with Troy and Roger, and you’ve got two really strong offensive tackles. So you know when those guys are throwing down out there and competing what the level of competition is. He’s playing faster. He’s playing more physical than he played a year ago. He weighs more. He’s stronger. So I’m really, really excited for his season, because the guy comes back and he’s clearly better.”
For UW to reach its lofty goals – starting Saturday – the same must be said of its inexperienced backup edges: senior Sekai Asoau-Afoa, junior Voi Tunuufi, redshirt freshman Lance Holtzclaw and sophomore Maurice Heims. All could conceivably be counted on for rotational reps.
The mindset is simple:
Swing away.
“Our mantra in (the edge room) is, we’re going to get more at-bats rushing the passer than anybody else in the country,” UW edge coach Eric Schmidt said. “We’re not sitting at the line of scrimmage, trying to read and get caught in blocks. We are running off the ball and we’re going to play that attack style all day long.”
Which, against a guy like Green, may not be enough. Ulofoshio compared the redshirt sophomore to former Cal quarterback Chase Garbers, who irritated the Huskies to the tune of 42 scramble yards in 2019 and 71 more (plus a touchdown) in 2021.
“It really is just trying to buy eyes (maintain eye contact) with him,” Ulofoshio said. “Obviously, certain coverages, it takes you away from the quarterback’s eyes. But you’ve got to be alert with your peripherals with what he’s doing. Especially from a pass rush perspective, you have to stay in your lane and trust that everybody else is in their lane, so if he tries to escape we can all collapse on him. That’s really the biggest thing.”
It may be all season.
Because while one story ends on Saturday, Washington will see weekly sequels.
“We have nine quarterbacks (on the schedule) that are very mobile and very dynamic,” Ulofoshio said. “This is just the first test.”
“Our concern for running quarterbacks is at an all-time high,” Morrell said. “It’s something we’re going to see with a great player week one, and the hits are going to continue to come over the course of the season. Because that’s the style of quarterback play that’s at the forefront of the Pac-12 right now.”
UW struggled against similar quarterbacks – UCLA’s Dorian Thompson-Robinson (315 pass yards and three TDs, 53 rush yards and one rush TD); Arizona’s Jayden de Laura (400 pass yards and four TDs, 41 rush yards); Oregon’s Bo Nix (279 pass yards and two TDs, 55 rush yards and one TD); and Washington State’s Cameron Ward (322 pass yards and two TDs, one rush TD) – in 2022.
But this version of UW’s defense may be more primed to pursue.
“There was a play out of fall camp where I watched Bralen Trice storming down the field, running full tilt,” Morrell said . “And man, that’s scary if you’re an offensive guy when he’s in full-on pursuit of you. Dom Hampton runs at an elite level. Jabbar Muhammad is a guy who’s shown he can close in space. All of our linebacking corps are guys that are very mobile.
“But it’s something that turns into a competition with the guys daily, who was the fastest guy on the field (based on the GPS monitors each player wears). I think it’s important to them and they’ve really bought into the science behind what (head strength and conditioning coach Ron) McKeefery has brought, in terms of that data and how important it is for us to be successful.”
With that said, Boise State’s running game transcends Green. The Broncos also return a pair of proven running backs, in redshirt senior George Holani (1,157 rush yards, 5.2 YPC and 10 TDs in 2022) and sophomore Ashton Jeanty (821, 5.3, seven). UW defensive line coach Inoke Breckterfield called it “a thunder and lightning type deal. Holani can slash, and the other guy wants to run through your face. They’re a two-headed monster. There’s really no drop-off when one is out.”
All told, there will be home run hitters on each sideline inside Husky Stadium.
Come 12:30 p.m. Saturday: batter up.