Husky Objective at Maryland: Get Boston Loose Again

Nobody questions Denzel Boston's receiving skills, certainly not Ohio State. The Buckeyes made it one of their points of emphasis to limit the catches for the University of Washington's leading receiver last weekend at Husky Stadium.

Of the UW's big three offensive threats, quarterback Demond Williams Jr. was able to complete 14 consecutive passes in one stretch, while running back Jonah Coleman broke a 34-yard run that nearly went a lot farther.

However, the 6-foot-4, 209-pound Boston was held in check throughout and finished with just 3 catches for 26 yards as the Buckeyes didn't let him out of their sight in their 24-6 victory.

"We tried to get him the ball at different times," UW coach Jedd Fisch said. "I thought we had some opportunities to get him the ball based on coverage. For one reason or another, we couldn't get it to him all the time."

The Huskies were unable to get Boston open in their first two possessions against Ohio State, then Williams found him in the short, left flat and the junior receiver raced 17 yards to the Buckeyes 27 before getting pushed out of bounds. The UW ended up settling for a Grady Gross field goal for a 3-0 lead.

Boston didn't see the ball again until the fourth quarter, when he hauled in 4- and 5-yard passes on the same series before the Huskies ran out of downs on the UW 44 with 8:44 remaining in the game. That was it.

Heading into Saturday's game at Maryland (4-0 overall, 1-0 Big Ten), Boston leads the UW in receiving with 19 catches for 275 yards and 3 touchdowns.

He actually went through a dry spell over the latter portion of last season as opposing secondaries did the same as Ohio State and focused on him and tried to limit his production.

Through the first nine games of the 2024 schedule, Boston was among the nation's leaders when he caught 53 balls for 682 yards and 9 scores.

With defenses concentrating on him over the final four games, he came up with just 2, 2, 3 and 3 receptions without any TDs to close out the season.

It was a red hot and cool year, for sure, for the respected Boston.