It’s officially week one! The long, cold, dark offseason is almost at an end, and with that, the Huskies will finally hit somebody else for a change! While we don’t know yet what our Huskies will look like until after this week, here are some takeaways from an eventful fall camp!
Youth Movement
The story of this Fall Camp may very well be the emergence of the young underclassman, particularly at 2 spots, receiver and offensive line. It seems that the effusive praise for both Dezmen Roebuck and Raiden Vines-Bright has been constant throughout camp and hard to ignore. Andy Yamashita of the Seattle Times even projected RVB to start in the slot, ahead of more seasoned receivers like Penn State’s Omari Evans. I wrote about RVB’s excellent spring game performance, and that momentum from that game seems to have carried over into fall camp! I’m excited to see RVB and Roebuck’s potential and what they can do on the field both this season and into the future.
On the line, we got a good one in John Mills. Standing 6’6” and weighing 320 (having lost between 20 and 25 pounds during winter and spring), and steadily growing more agile, he has been penciled in as a starter by Yamashita and has earned accolades from others, including making both On3 and 247 Sports’ Freshman All American Teams. When I was at the Spokane Husky Alumni luncheon, Damon Huard said that with Mills and Landen Hatchett both having long hair, we look like an 80s rock band up front! We will soon see if that style is just that, or if it’s backed up by substance in the form of mauling opponents up front! In any case, the effort shown in camp was strong enough for Roebuck and Vines-Bright to earn a spot on the receiver 2 deep, and Mills making the guard rotation on the left side along with Sophomore Paki Finau.
Tactical Reinforcements
The transfer portal is a heck of a concept. While it is basically just free agency for CFB, just how it is used can make or break a roster. Each coach carries a different philosophy in regards to the portal. Jedd Fisch has stated that he prefers a more targeted approach, with a focus on high school recruits to build the foundation of his team, and transfers to fill holes at positions of need. No more was this more apparent than on defense, and new DC Ryan Walters will have plenty of experience at all positions to bolster his unit. Western Michigan’s DT Anterio Thompson, WSU’s Buddah Al-Uqdah, and Arizona’s Tacario Davis, in addition to others, will be key cogs in the defense for the Huskies in 2025.
While the Huskies do have high school talent and returning contributors from last year, it seems as though there was a concerted effort to get players that match what Walters wants to accomplish defensively in terms of schematics. Their performance in fall camp solidifies that these transfers will be important to the defense this year, almost as much as the returning players!
Special Teams Shuffle
It’s no secret that special teams was perhaps the weakest unit on the field in 2024, save for the OL. As I pointed out a few times last year, special teams is a unit that you don’t notice unless you’re given a reason to. I, along with many other Husky fans, noticed glaring issues with kickoff coverage, Grady Gross’s accuracy, and the lack of explosiveness in the return game.
Enter Chris Petrilli. The former Army paratrooper and special teams coach at a bunch of stops got right to work, landing Illinois kicker Ethan Moczulski and former Oregon punter Luke Dunne in the portal, with the stated goal of letting Grady just focus on kicking field goals, as Moczulski will handle kickoffs, something that he was very good at in 2024, with 38 touchbacks on 70 kickoffs total. And as for Dunne, you know we love Aussie punters around here, and I hope he is the one to fix a lackluster phase of the game, and turn it into something serviceable, if not outright good.
As for the returners, Petrilli has favored the running backs, Adam Mohammed and Jordan Washington for the returner spot, with either Rahshawn Clark or Kevin Green returning punts, in addition to last year’s punt returner Denzel Boston getting occasional reps. This change in approach signals better play out of the special teams unit may be on the horizon, thanks to a fresh perspective and new faces in key spots!
We’re almost there people. The dawn of a new season is approaching, and with that comes fresh optimism, new faces and old friends. I am honored to be doing this column for you all again for another year, and I will see you next Monday for the Three Things We Learned about the Colorado State game. Go Dawgs!