Even Big Husky Mistake Looked Great in Closing Spring Scrimmage

This University of Washington football team conceivably could be so good this coming season, even its mistakes turned out spectacular in Saturday afternoon's closing spring scrimmage.

Moving in motion from left to right from the 6, wide receiver Denzel Boston took a direct snap from freshman center Landen Hatchett — on a play that had to be absolutely perfect to have any chance of succeeding — and carried it into the end zone.

Trouble was, while it appeared to be more genius pulled from the playbook of coach Kalen DeBoer and offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb, it was anything but.

"That was an accident," DeBoer admitted with a laugh afterward. "All of a sudden, it ended up in [Boston's] hands. That means we really need to work on a few things."

The play actually called for a direct snap to quarterback Dylan Morris, who, in turn, was supposed to hand off to Boston on a fly sweep. These Huskies on the field simply cut out the middle man. Morris' perplexed reaction gave it away to his coach.

"I didn't see that in today's walk-through," DeBoer said of the high degree of difficulty snap to his wide receiver. 

Otherwise, the Huskies completed 15 spring practices in highly successful manner, introduced 17 new players to the process and avoided any major injuries over the seven weeks that surrounded all of this activity.

They also largely settled on 22 starters without much interruption, though the cornerback spot opposite Oklahoma State transfer Jabbar Muhammad could end up in flux throughout the fall, and offensive guard Geirean Hatchett could force his way into the rebuilt offensive line.

While two players exited the program before spring ball ended, and a few more may follow in the days ahead, it wasn't hard to see why. 

The Huskies welcomed Sioux Falls transfer edge rusher Zach Durfee, who hit his stride this past week and made a lot of plays in the final scrimmage, and the younger Hatchett, who delivered that pinpoint but wrong-direction snap.

 It probably wasn't coincidental that edge rusher Sav'ell Smalls and center Owen Prentice moved on after seeing what these new faces could do in their respective positions.

Back to the action, running back Cam Davis scored twice on short runs, providing the first touchdown of the scrimmage on 1-yard plunge by following the blocking of new starting center Matteo Mele into the end zone. Mele was one of those who didn't leave any mystery this spring as to why he should be with the No. 1 offense. 

Boston, after taking his direct snap and scoring, came up with another touchdown when he broke the coverage of the No. 2 defense and was wide open when he scored on a 43-yard pass from Morris, leaving a corner and a linebacker in his wake. 

While everyone walked away in good spirits and fairly healthy, a number of Huskies were held out of the two-hour workout. 

They included Mississippi State running-back transfer Dillon Johnson, walk-on quarterback Camdyn Stiegeler, tight end Jack Westover, edge rusher Lance Holtzclaw, walk-on tight end Griffin Waiss, walk-on edge rusher Jake Jennings and defensive tackle Elinneus Davis, all dealing with assorted aches and pains, though not spelled out.

The Huskies will take a break before entering another five-week offseason training period and then return for fall camp in or around Aug. 1. 

The season begins at home with a Sept. 2 game against Boise State, which has a new offensive coordinator in Bush Hamdan, who held that job at the UW for Chris Petersen through the 2019 season.

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