Denzel Boston Makes Inspiring Practice Return for Huskies

After driving nickelback Leroy Bryant off the ball wtih a first-play block at midfield, Boston raced into the open up the left sideline and caught a Demond Williams Jr. pass for a 14-yard gain.

He came out for another series and slipped into the right flat, where he was wide open when he caught a 37-yard pass from Williams and raced into the end zone untouched, only to have the officiating crew wave off the play for some unexplained infraction.

Two plays later, Williams drilled a 20-yard pass to Boston, who beat redshirt freshman cornerback Elias Johnson, and the coaches had seen enough and shut him down for the day.

Back on the sideline, Boston went through a receiving line of well-wishers, both teammates and coaches, who slapped hands with him, patted him on the back or wrapped him up in a hug.

With a half-hour of practice remaining, Boston dropped onto his back and had a trainer stretch him out for several minutes.

Well after practice was over, and most UW players had jumped into the ice baths set up in Husky Stadium, Boston sat on a bench surrounded by Demond Williams Jr. and about a half-dozen receivers, unwinding and chatting away.

No doubt, it was good to be back without limitations.

Besides having their big-play receiver available again, the Huskies went through a spirited workout marked by big hits and big kicks, now two weeks and two days from the season opener against Colorado State.

Freshman safety Rylon Dillard-Allen, never shy about showing off his physicality, crashed into junior wide receiver Kevin Green Jr. with a wicked collision that had players running to the big monitor on the sideline to see it again.

With senior Tacario Davis absent for unknown reasons, freshman cornerback Dylan Robinson cut in front of Rashid Williams and intercepted a ball thrown by Demond Williams Jr.

The left offensive guard competition showed no change with redshirt freshman Paki Finau, freshman John Mills and sophomore Zach Henning each taking turns with the first-team offense.

Near the end of the practice, the Huskies put in some special-teams work that was unique to what's been done previously.

In what could best be called a "hurry-up" field goal offense, special-teams coach Chris Petrilli had seven new players sprint on to the field to join four holdovers for each attempt to launch field goals as if the Huskies had no timeouts remaining.

Following that mad-dash session, kickers Grady Gross and Ethan Moczulski, an Illinois transfer, each attempted a pair of 57-yard field goals and made and missed one.

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