UCLA Football Preview: Washington's Jonah Coleman Is the Huskies' Leading Scorer
To win, the Bruins will need to find a way to keep Jonah Coleman out of the end zone.
When it comes to the Huskies offense, they will run your typical single back, three receiver set offensively. Unlike the Bruins who are still ranked in the bottom 20 in scoring offense nationally, Washington is ranked 24th in the nation. Meanwhile, they are ranked in the middle of the pack nationally in rushing offense where they are 58th. They are 34th in the country in passing offense even though they only throw the ball about 44% of the time.
Probably the most interesting trend for the Huskies is that when Washington’s offense is held to 10 points or less, they lose. When the score more than 10, they win. That said the fewest points the Huskies have scored in a game they won is 24. So, that is the current low bar to a Washington win while 10 is the high bar for a Husky loss.
Given the way the Bruins defense has played against…well…everybody, I just don’t see UCLA holding Washington to fewer than 21 points, much less 10. So, that doesn’t bode especially well for the Bruins.
Let’s look at Washington’s offensive personnel.
Quarterback
The Huskies’ starting quarterback is sophomore Demond Williams, Jr. Last year, Williams played the entire second half against the Bruins and went 7 for 8 for 67 yards passing with a touchdown pass. He also ran the ball six times for 31 yards. That performance earned him Big Ten Freshman of the Week honors.
This season, Williams has completed 199 of 274 pass attempts with 17 touchdowns and just five interceptions.
Williams is also Washington’s second-best rusher on the team. He’s carried 115 times for 512 net yards and four touchdowns. He’s averaging 4.5 yards per carry.
Running Game
The starting running back for Washington will be Jonah Coleman. The senior from Stockton, California began his collegiate career at Arizona and followed Jedd Fisch from Tucson to Seattle.
Coleman has carried 131 times for 645 net yards with 13 touchdowns. He is averaging 4.9 yards per carry and his longest run this year went for 38 yards.
Sophomore Adam Mohammed will be Coleman’s primary backup. Mohammed has carried 69 times for 304 net yards with five touchdowns. Frequently, there can be a big dropoff in the yards per carry from a starter to the backup, but that isn’t the case with Mohammed. He’s averaging 4.4 ypc, which is about half a yard difference per carry. While that can add up to quite a few yards over time and even over the course of a game, it’s not nearly as big a difference as we’ve seen at other schools.
Redshirt freshman Jordan Washington is the third back in Washington’s rotation. His choice of schools is quite ironic. That’s because his high school was Long Beach Jordan. Then, he went to Washington. So, between high school and college, his schools have, literally, made up his name. Seriously though, Washington has carried 19 times this season for 175 net yards and a touchdown. To be sure, his yards per carry is a little skewed by the 68-yard run he broke against Purdue. With that run, he’s averaging 9.2 ypc, but without it, he is still averaging 5.94 ypc.
No other Washington running back has carried more than six times or rushed for more than 29 net yards.
Passing Game
Washington’s leading receiver is junior Denzel Boston. This season, Boston has made 52 receptions for 730 yards and eight touchdowns.
True freshman Dezmen Roebuck is Williams’ second-favorite receiver. Roebuck has caught 32 passes for 431 yards with five touchdowns. His season-long of 59 yards is the longest reception by one of the Huskies’ starters.
In addition to being Washington’s leading rusher, Coleman is also third on the team in receptions as well as yards. He’s made 29 receptions for 335 yards with two receiving touchdowns.
Sophomore tight end Decker Degraaf has made 26 receptions and he’s gained 281 yards. That ranks him fourth on the Huskies’ receptions list this season.
True freshman Raiden Vines-Bright has caught 22 passes for 226 yards this year in ten games. He has started seven of Washington’s ten games this season. In the three games he didn’t start, the Huskies subbed in a second tight end to start the game.
Analysis
Last season, the Huskies defeated the Bruins in Seattle, 31-19. In fact, Jedd Fisch hasn’t lost to UCLA since 2021 when he was in his first season with Arizona. If Fisch can win once again on Saturday night, it will go a long way towards getting him a job offer from UCLA if he doesn’t already have one.
Frankly, given the Huskies’ offense firepower, I don’t see the UCLA defense being able to prevent Washington from scoring at least three touchdowns.
All of this is to say that winning tomorrow’s game against Washington is going to be a difficult one to win. And, if I’m really being obnoxious, I might say that Fisch has figured out several ways to beat the Bruins.
If UCLA wants to win, the defense will need to re-take the ball on fourth down and keep the Huskies out of the end zone.
Go Bruins!!!!
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I hope that Joe's comments regarding Fisch getting an offer from UCLA does not happen. We do not need another retread.
Why is Martin still here?