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UW Running backs Pack On Muscle, Ready for Big Ten

Originally posted on Washington Huskies on SI
By Dan Raley | Last updated Aug 15, 2024 11:17 AM ET

When 100-plus players come out for University of Washington football practice, they arrive in all shapes and sizes. At 6-foot-2 and 368 pounds, defensive tackle Logan Sagapolu carries the most girth of anyone on the roster. Receiver Jason Robinson, Jr., at 5-foot-10 and 151 pounds, is the lightest man to step on a weight-room scale.

Sixteen Huskies carry in excess of 300 pounds. Six more are within five pounds of joining them at three bills.

Yet the UW position group that collectively best passes the eye test these days is not the edge rushers or linebackers -- it's the running backs. They're a chiseled group, with each of the top four ball carriers remaking his body in a big way since last season. They all look like physical Big Ten rushers ready to get out and hit people.

No offense to Sean McGrew -- the Huskies' 2021 offensive MVP and an All-Pac-12 honorable-mention selection -- but his 5-foot-7, 180-pound physique probably wouldn't permit him entry into this exclusive Husky running-back club.

First in line to carry the football this coming season and flex a little in front of the mirror is Arizona transfer Jonah Coleman, now packing a 5-foot-9, 229-pound frame. While up just four pounds over his 2023 playing weight, the junior from Stockton, California, appears a lot more muscular than he even did for the Huskies during spring football.

Next up is Cam Davis, who tore up a knee before last season and apparently spent his down time building muscle everywhere, and not just in his surgically repaired knee. From Rancho Cucamonga, California, the 6-foot, 214-pound Davis, though just two pounds heavier than he was in 2023, has huge biceps and thighs as the senior enters his sixth season in Montlake.

"We've come into his room really," running-backs coach Scottie Graham said of Davis. "He's been a great leader."

Third in the order is freshman Adam Mohammed, another player with high-definition biceps and legs. From Glendale, Arizona, he was just 17 years old when running through UW spring football practices. He packs a very solid 6-foot, 212-pound frame, one 20 pounds heavier since last season when he was in high school. He's expected to carry the ball this season and not redshirt.

"He's looking good," Fisch said. "He's got a really good career ahead of him."

Finally, the final member of this big-muscle band of brothers is sort of a somewhat surprising one -- Sam Adams.

The fourth-year junior from Kirkland, Washington, missed most of spring football practice with an unspecified injury, which kept a new coaching staff from getting fully acquainted with him. Yet he similarly went for the newly muscular body and now packs 6-foot-2 and 212-pound dimensions, up five pounds since last year but he looks much rangier and more cut.

Whatever he did, it's working. On Tuesday, Adams had one of the longer fall camp runs, skirting around the right side for 25 yards to the 3-yard line. Fisch's staff hasn't hesitated to hand him the ball this month and lhis usage likely will carry over into the coming season.

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

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