Analysis: Three takeaways from Washington Husky football spring practices
Jedd Fisch finally has a roster of his own creation.
Washington’s football coach scrambled to put together a roster after taking over before the 2024 campaign. Fisch and his coaching staff had to meld a group consisting of Washington returners, Arizona transfers who’d followed the coaching staff and incoming portal additions. The Huskies had only seven available offensive linemen during their first spring game under Fisch a year ago.
Now, after completing his second spring at UW, Fisch said he has a roster that understands the program and culture he’s trying to establish.
“We’ve got a good team,” Fisch said. “We’re big. We’re strong. We’re fast. And now we’ve got to put it all together, and we’ve got to see if we can execute.”
Fisch and the Huskies completed their spring practices Friday, hosting a spring game for the final public appearance before UW welcomes Colorado State to Husky Stadium Aug. 30 to open the 2025 season. Here are three takeaways from spring practices:
1. D-line depth
Washington’s interior defensive line depth disintegrated four games into its first Big Ten season, when junior Jayvon Parker suffered a season-ending Achilles tendon injury during UW’s 21-18 loss against Rutgers.
Washington and Fisch turned to senior defensive tackles Sebastian Valdez and Jacob Bandes after Parker’s injury. They played 558 snaps and 450 snaps, respectively, with Valdez ranking 53rd nationally among defensive tackles. The Huskies also got 169 snaps from redshirt freshman Elinneus Davis and 138 snaps from junior Logan Sagapolu. Valdez and Bandes exhausted their eligibility during the 2024 season.
This spring, however, the Huskies were able to flex more options. They added 6-foot-4, 306-pound Anterio Thompson from Western Michigan and 6-3, 350-pound Simote Pepa from Utah during the winter transfer portal window. The 6-2, 315-pound Davis and the slimmed-down Sagapolu – listed at 345 pounds after weighing 368 in 2024 – returned after being contributors. Omar Khan, a 6-3, 310-pound Texas native, is also back after redshirting his true freshman year.
Yet the team’s true depth has come from healthy springs for junior Bryce Butler and junior Armon Parker. Butler, a 6-5, 315-pound junior college transfer, redshirted after he was injured in Washington’s second game against Eastern Michigan and only appeared in one more game for the rest of the season. The 6-3, 315-pound Armon Parker has not played in a game entering his fourth season at UW but was a full participant for most of the spring.
While the unit’s true effectiveness won’t be known until Big Ten play begins, defensive coordinator Ryan Walters has significantly more playable options at his disposal. That extra depth will be particularly important considering Walters spent large parts of the spring installing a scheme featuring many five-player defensive fronts to combat the run-heavy Big Ten.
2. Options at guard
Three of UW’s offensive line positions seem established. Kansas State transfer Carver Willis has received a majority of first-team repetitions at left tackle, while junior Landen Hatchett is entrenched as UW’s starting center. At right tackle, junior Drew Azzopardi held off a challenge from senior Maximus McCree, though that competition may continue into fall camp.
UW’s guard positions, however, remain fairly fluid. At left guard, the Huskies primarily rotated between redshirt freshman Paki Finau, a 6-5, 310-pound lineman who started UW’s 35-34 Sun Bowl loss to Louisville at the end of the 2024 season, and John Mills, a 6-6, 320-pound freshman who enrolled early and saw repetitions with both the first-team and second-team offensive lines.
Right guard has even more options. Sixth-year guard Geirean Hatchett, back at UW after a one-year sojourn at Oklahoma, sophomore Zachary Henning and freshman enrollee Champ Taulealea all took snaps with the first-team offensive line throughout spring practices. Geirean Hatchett and Taulealea received a majority of the early opportunities, but Henning, who is also UW’s second-string center, emerged during the end of the spring and got several chances to play right guard next to Landen Hatchett.
“It’s a process,” offensive line coach Michael Switzer said April 19. “Putting together an offensive line, the way you want to build it in terms of the physicality, the mindset, the mentality, the guys have worked incredibly hard.”
Finau and Geirean Hatchett still seem like the most likely players to start at guard in 2025, but Fisch has always been willing to play freshman offensive linemen if he deems them ready. Henning, perhaps the dark-horse candidate, certainly also has a chance to force his way into the lineup in fall camp after a strong end of spring practices.
3. Eight WRs. Two spots.
Washington leaned heavily on three wide receivers in 2024: Denzel Boston, Giles Jackson and Jeremiah Hunter. They accounted for 184 of the 202 catches made by UW wide receivers. Only Boston, the team’s leader in receiving touchdowns, remains on the current roster after Jackson and Hunter ran out of eligibility.
The Huskies have plenty of options to replace Jackson and Hunter, and got a decent look at all of them while Boston sat out of spring to recover from offseason cleanup surgery. Penn State transfer Omari Evans impressed early, but injuries prevented him from participating in more than half of the practices. Sophomore Rashid Williams, who had 11 catches for 138 yards and a touchdown in 2024, similarly shined during the first half of spring but did not dress for the last five practices because of injuries.
Sophomore Audric Harris, who burned his redshirt in 2024, was one of UW’s most consistent, healthy receivers during the spring and played almost exclusively in the slot. Junior Kevin Green Jr., praised by wide receivers coach Kevin Cummings as Washington’s best blocking receiver, also had a strong spring in the slot after returning from a lower body injury which cost him the entire 2024 season, though he did not participate in the spring game.
Then, there’s the four freshmen. Chris Lawson, an early enrollee out of Archbishop Riordan High in San Francisco, had the best spring of the group. He was the first freshman promoted to first-team snaps when Evans started missing time, stayed there when Williams went down, and seemed to develop a quick chemistry with quarterback Demond Williams Jr.
Raiden Vines-Bright, also an early enrollee from IMG Academy in Florida, missed several practices because of a hamstring injury, but recovered to become one of the standout performers of the spring game after making an acrobatic touchdown catch. Marcus Harris, the final early enrollee wide receiver from Mater Dei High, also hauled in a touchdown during the spring game.
But the biggest wild card is likely Justice Williams, a 6-4, 210-pound receiver who redshirted his true freshman season during 2024 while recovering from an injury.
Washington, of course, still has time to figure out who will start alongside Boston. Fully healthy fall camps for Rashid Williams, Evans and Vines-Bright – including opportunities to play in the slot – may also decipher who is in position to play significant snaps at wideout in 2025.