Huskies Seeing Early Gains From Special Teams Overhaul

Originally posted on Washington Huskies on SI
By Dan Raley | Last updated Sep 10, 2025 7:50 PM ET

University of Washington special teams has been like a bathroom remodel -- the Huskies tore it all down in the offseason and started over.

Every focal special-teams figurehead except for senior place-kicker Grady Gross was replaced for this season.

Punter. Long snapper. Holder. Coach.

While there has been an early blip along the way -- such as Colorado State's Lloyd Avant popping a 50-yard kickoff return -- for the large part the Huskies have seen only advances.

Consider that Denzel Boston's 78-yard punt return for a touchdown was the first for the UW in 20 games.

Take note that the Huskies' overall punt-return yardage of 106 on four runbacks over two games so far is more than the Huskies had in 13 outings in all of 2024, when they were limited to 93 yards on 10 returns all season.

Besides a new punter in Luke Dunne from Oregon and a new snapper in Ryan Kean from Utah Tech, the UW started at the top and hired animated special-teams coordinator Chris Petrilli from Purdue.

"We made a big focus, right, on making our special teams better," Fisch said. "We hired coach Petrilli to come in here. We wanted to really emphasize special teams. Obviously scoring on special teams, or blocking a punt or blocking a kick, those are game-changers."

For the most part, so far, so good.

78 yards to the house

Denzel Boston returns the punt and scores for @UW_Football

: @BigTenNetwork pic.twitter.com/ukRCK90xbg
— Big Ten Football (@B1Gfootball) September 7, 2025

On kickoff coverage, the Huskies notably have more speedy defensive backs involved than before with guys such as Rylon "Batman" Dillard-Allen, Rahshawn Clark and Dylan Robinson among the half-dozen secondary players drawing this duty.

Three linebackers in Deven Bryant, Xe'ree Alexander and Anthony Ward and edge rusher Hayden Moore provide wedge-busting capabilities.

If there's another area that needs a little clean-up, it's that kickoff-coverage unit. While Illinois transfer Ethan Moczulski has provided a long-range foot, by averaging 62.2 yards in each game, he's let one kickoff in each game drift out of bounds, giving the opponents better field position to start.

The UW head coach is encouraging the home crowd to join in and lend a vocal distraction whenever opponents are lining up kicks. He already has his players waving their arms and chanting in practice every time Gross steps up to attempt a three-pointer.

"If we can get that done," Fisch said, "we hope and we believe that we can make this the hardest stadium to kick in all of college football."

This article first appeared on Washington Huskies on SI and was syndicated with permission.

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