4 things to watch in Washington’s season opener against Oregon State
Washington will (finally) open its 2020 season on Saturday against Oregon State at Husky Stadium.
It’s been a long time coming for the Huskies, who had their third scheduled season opener canceled last week after a Cal player tested positive for COVID-19. The fourth was put into doubt after Oregon State reported positive cases, but the Beavers were able to travel to Seattle as planned.
Saturday night will provide long-awaited first look at this season’s Huskies, including the debut new offensive coordinator John Donovan’s scheme. So what should you be watching for when UW takes the field against Oregon State?
Here are four things to keep an eye on:
1. The quarterback, of course.
You didn’t think we could get through this without mentioning the biggest mystery of the offseason, did you? So let’s just get it out of the way right at the top.
Head coach Jimmy Lake has remained consistently tight-lipped about the identity of the starting quarterback, although he did admit on his radio show that the Huskies had picked one. That’s something, right?
The question remains whether it will be graduate transfer Kevin Thomson, redshirt sophomore Jacob Sirmon, redshirt freshman Dylan Morris or true freshman Ethan Garbers. And Lake left the door open for more than on quarterback to play, too.
Either way, a training camp of mystery will come to an end against Oregon State. My prediction: UW leans on experience and goes with Thomson. Place your final bets now, and then we’ll all find out together.
2. The running back situation.
It was a surprise to see senior Kamari Pleasant listed as the starter at tailback. After his breakout season in 2019, it seemed most likely that redshirt sophomore Richard Newton would be at the top of the list. Instead, Newton and senior Sean McGrew were listed as backups. Redshirt freshman Cam Davis didn’t appear on the depth chart despite receiving widespread praise during camp.
The carries will surely be spread out between at least Pleasant, Newton and McGrew. I expect Davis to get some time on the field, too. The biggest question now is how exactly the attempts will be divided. Last season, Salvon Ahmed and Newton each got more than 115 carries and McGrew topped 50. But in 2018, Myles Gaskin had the bulk of the attempts with 259 while Ahmed had 104.
My best guess is the distribution will more resemble 2019 than 2018. We might see new dimensions of Newton’s skill set, too. While he became known for his bruising running style, especially in the red zone, Newton said during training camp that he believed he could expand his game. What does that look like? We’ll start to find out soon enough.
3. The freshmen.
There are five true freshmen listed on UW’s initial depth chart: Garbers, tight end Mark Redman, wide receiver Jalen McMillan, outside linebacker Sav’ell Smalls and long snapper Jaden Green. Of them, only Green is listed as a sure starter.
It’s as safe bet that the players on the two-deep — except for possibly Garbers — will see the field on Saturday. What we don’t know is how big of a role they will play and which other true freshmen could get some snaps.
Of all the options, wide receiver Rome Odunze seems like the most likely candidate to see the field. Both McMillan and Odunze were singled out by coaches and players alike for their performances during fall camp. Only McMillan made the depth chart, but that doesn’t mean Odunze won’t get his opportunities, too.
4. The pass rush.
The Huskies ranked seventh in the Pac-12 in sacks per game (2.23) and ninth in tackles for loss per game (5.46) last season. They’ll be looking to improve on those numbers this year, but they’ll have to do it without outside linbacker Joe Tryon, who left UW to enter the 2020 NFL Draft.
Tryon led UW with 8.0 sacks in 2019. Outside linebackers Smalls, Ryan Bowman, Laiatu Latu and Zion Tupuola-Fetui will be tasked with making up that production.
Bowman was second on the team last season with 5.5 sacks, and Smalls’ debut might be the most anticipated among UW’s freshman. Latu, who is listed as a starter along with Bowman, is definitely a player to watch. During fall camp, defensive coordinator Pete Kwiatkowski said Latu was “night-and-day, in a good way” from where he was last season.
“I think of Joe Tryon’s progression and his improvement from being a freshman to a redshirt freshman,,” Kwiatkowski said, “and Laiatu is further along.”
