Let the youth movement for the University of Washington football team begin, with plenty of jobs to be had for the young and the restless, and no one at the door checking IDs.
Here comes new Husky coach Jedd Fisch, who promises to play first-year guys ad nauseam, or as many as necessary to plug glaring lineup holes for the coming season.
"We've played freshmen," the former Arizona football leader said. "At the last place we were at, we had a freshman All-American. Then we had another freshman All-American. I think we would have a third player who would have been one if he hadn't got hurt."
The aforementioned award winners were, in order, Wildcats freshman offensive guard Jonah Savaiinae two years ago and redshirt freshman quarterback Noah Fifita last year, while highly regarded offensive guard Raymond Pulido suffered a preseason bicycle accident and a football-season ankle injury that forced him to miss seven of the 13 Wildcats games last year, including the Washington game.
The 6-foot-6, 335-pound Pulido was the coach's prize recruit in the desert, flipping his commitment from Alabama to Arizona late in the process, probably encouraged by the idea of instant playing time.
Kalen DeBoer's Husky football staff had no trouble putting freshmen on the field when you'd least expect it, with wide receiver Denzel Boston suddenly inserted on the opening drive against Oregon in Eugene in 2022, but it wouldn't start them. The coaches almost did, suggesting that then-freshman Jaivion Green would open at cornerback against California two years ago before pulling back on that plan.
When Fisch faced the UW in Seattle in 2022, he started three freshmen and had another 11 true or redshirt freshman penciled in as back-ups.
Last season against the Huskies in Tucson, his lineup counted three redshirt freshmen in the opening lineup and another six youngsters waiting in the wings as back-ups. Again, without the ailing Pulido.
"So we feel comfortable playing true freshmen or redshirt freshmen in the same regard here — I believe the same," Fisch said.
All of this made everyone who monitors the continual reshuffle of the UW football team to ponder who exactly might be pressed into duty this coming season.
The first place to look, of course, is the Husky offensive line, which is badly in need of a total revamp for all five starting jobs. Freshmen Justin Hylkema and Paki Finau immediately come to mind.
Hylkema is 6-foot-8 and 315 pounds, answers to "Moose," flipped from Arizona and could slot right away at tackle if ready. He's a huge physical specimen already.
Finau, a 4-star recruit and considered one of the top UW signees of the class, stands 6-foot-5 and weighs 255 pounds, and could stand to add some more weight before taking on major responsibility in Seattle, which easily could be done this offseason. Finau is an early enrollee, someone who briefly went in and out of the transfer portal before accepting a lead role in promoting the Husky program under new leadership, while Hylkema is not expected until June.
"Paki was great," Fisch said. "We had a great meeting."
Fisch welcomes a fifth-year senior quarterback in Mississippi State transfer Will Rogers, but should the Southerner need a breather at any time next season, the new UW coach would turn to one of his two new freshmen at the position and hustle to get him ready to play — 6-foot-5, 187-pound Dermaricus Davis or 5-foot-11, 180-pound Demond Williams Jr. Davis is enrolled in school, Williams not yet.
Another spot far from settled that might get real competitive is safety, where a pair of incoming freshmen in 6-foot-1, 171-pound Peyton Waters and 6-foot-2, 180-pound Paul Mencke Jr. might feel compelled to push for a game-opening assignment if comfortable when they get here. Waters currently is taking UW classes while Mencke is still in Texas finishing up school.
The Huskies likewise are far from settled at tight end, where 6-foot-3, 230-pound freshman Decker DeGraaf will have a chance to show if he's ready to play right away, and at wide receiver, where first-year Justice Williams, the son of former NFL tight end Roland Williams, brings a readymade 6-foot-4, 205-pound frame to the competition.
"Whoever we have will play," Fisch said.
These are called baby steps, though maybe a little bolder than everyone else's.
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