Interceptions and Young Players Highlight UW Spring Game

After missing two-thirds of spring ball with a hamstring injury, the 6-foot-1, 200-pound pass-catcher from Tempe, Arizona, by way of Florida's IMG Academy, caught a game-high 8 passes for 131 yards and a touchdown, with a long catch of 35 yards, all for the team dressed in white uniforms.

Vines-Bright made a difficult, leaping catch in the end zone of freshman Kini McMillan's pass, just getting a foot down, while freshman cornerback D'Aryhian Clemons was all over him, to score the second touchdown of the game, coming in the third quarter.

"He took it up a notch," offensive coordinator Jimmie Dougherty said of the smooth playing Vines-Bright.

With a running clock, the first two quarters were pretty much an offensive stalemate, with Grady Gross providing the only points on a 49-yard field for the Purple team with the half coming to a close on his kick.

New safety CJ Christian, a Florida International transfer, set it up with a 65-yard interception return of a Kai Horton pass, with a touchdown prevented by Jonah Coleman's diving tackle on the 31-yard line. Horton might have been touched down by edge rusher Jacob Lane, but the officiating crew didn't call it.

After everyone took a halftime break in the locker room, freshman quarterback Dash Beierly came out on the third play and got hit hard while letting go of a pass by junior defensive tackle Bryce Butler and it was intercepted.

Beierly further paid for it by watching freshman safety Rylon "Batman" Dillard-Allen, the player with the best nickname on the team, run it back 30 yards for a score and the first TD of the night.

After Vines-Bright's TD catch, no one scored again until Beierly threw a 15-yard scoring pass to freshman Marcus Harris, beating the Batman this time.

That last score was set up by Huskies' other transfer safety, Alex McLaughlin from Northern Arizona, who intercepted a McMillan pass on the goal line and took it back 80 yards before redshirt freshman running Jordan Washington tackled him on the 20.

The first interception of the Spring Game, for that matter, came midway through the opening half, when yet another young player, redshirt freshman cornerback Elias Johnson, stole a ball thrown by Horton over his inside shoulder, coming down with it on the 20.

The Huskies now take three months off from practice and work on getting everyone healthy. Fisch said all of the players who missed the game, and it was at least a dozen, including five or six who could be defensive starters, are on a pace to return for fall camp.

The Huskies had to be encouraged with so many freshmen, led by Vines-Bright, stepping up with notable performances.

"Fun night," Fisch said. "I think the guys had a really good spring. Proud of the way the guys competed all spring. Love the energy of our team. Love the energy of the young kids."