UCLA Football Preview: Washington QB Will Rogers is a Very Accurate Passer
The Bruins will also need to find a way to run the ball like they did last week against Iowa.
Ten games in the season, the Washington Huskies are 5-5. At the same time, the UW offense is split almost 50-50 between passing play and rushing plays. Overall, the Huskies will run a spread offense with three receivers, a tight end and a running back.
In general, Washington tends to spread the ball around to many different players on offense. Overall, expect the Huskies’ offense to look a lot like Arizona’s offense did last year because head coach Jedd Fisch brought offensive coordinator Brennan Carroll with him from the Wildcats.
While a handful of guys followed the coaching staff from Tucson to Seattle, the reality is that there’s really only one Arizona transfer on the offensive side of the ball which has made a significant impact. That guy is junior running back Jonah Coleman.
That doesn’t mean there aren’t other guys who transferred to Washington from elsewhere this year. There certainly are. It just means that Coleman is the only former Wildcat who’s making an impact for the Huskies.
Let’s look at the offensive personnel the Bruins will face tonight.
Quarterback
The Huskies are led by senior transfer Will Rogers, who came to Seattle from Mississippi State. Rogers has had a very good season by just about any measurement you could use. He has completed a total of 71.4% of his 290 pass attempts, as well as no fewer than 64.1% in each of this ten games. He’s also thrown 13 touchdown passes this year to just five interceptions. He’s also thrown for 2343 yards this season. By comparison, Ethan Garbers has completed just 64.8% of his passes to go with 12 touchdowns but he’s also been picked off 11 times.
Rogers doesn’t seem to be a particularly mobile quarterback. He’s lost 79 yards on the ground this season and he hasn’t scored a single rushing touchdown.
Given the fact that the Huskies do tend to throw the ball a little more often than they run it, it seems that stopping Rogers should go a long way towards holding the Washington offense in check.
Rogers’ backup is freshman Demond Williams, Jr. Williams is almost as accurate as Rogers. He’s completed 71.1% of his passes this season, but he also brings an added dimension to the Washington offense because of his ability to run the ball. He’s run 35 times for 186 net yards and a touchdown this season. That makes him the Huskies’ third-best rusher. He’s seen action in every game this season, but he tends to play sparingly for the most part. He saw the most action in the Iowa game when he was 12 of 16 passing for 71 yards and last week against Penn State when he was six for ten for sixty yards. The Penn State game also saw him gain 38 yards rushing which is the most that he has had this season.
Passing Game
Rogers’ two favorite targets are receivers Giles Jackson and Denzel Boston. Jackson is a super senior whose 60 receptions leads the team while Boston’s 55 receptions is close behind. Despite having almost the same number of receptions, Boston is the guy who really seems to stand out. Even though he has five fewer catches than Jackson, Boston has amassed 97 more yards. Perhaps more importantly, his nine touchdown receptions accounts for 60% of Washington’s total while Jackson has only scored twice.
Tight end Keleki Latu, brother of former Bruin Laiatu Latu, has the third-most catches on the team with 31 while third receiver Jeremiah Hunter has 27 receptions including a touchdown.
The only other Husky with at least 20 receptions is Coleman who has exactly 20. Rogers likes to use Coleman as an option coming out of the backfield quite a bit.
Rushing Game
Speaking of Coleman, he is the primary back for Washington. He has run the ball 152 of the Huskies’ 320 rushing attempts this year. So, he gets the ball almost half the time when Washington stays on the ground. On those 152 carries, he’s gained 913 net yards and scored seven touchdowns.
Coleman’s backup is senior Cameron Davis. Davis has run the ball just 44 times for 190 net yards. He hasn’t scored a touchdown this season. So, don’t expect to see Davis much down at the goal line.
As mentioned above, backup quarterback Demond Williams, Jr. is the Huskies’ third-best rusher. So, look out for him coming into tonight’s game replacing Rogers.
Defense
When the last name of your defensive coordinator is Belichick, you know the defense is going to be very good. The Huskies have that with Bill’s son Steve, who had previously been an assistant under his dad at New England. The Huskies have been the younger Belichick’s opportunity to escape dad’s very big shadow, and the Washington defense has played well, and in fact they have been the sixth-best defense in the conference this season.
Considering the fact that Belichick and UCLA offense coordinator Eric Bienemy both coached in the AFC, tonight’s game should be an interesting battle pitting two familiar foes against each other.
Let’s look at the Husky defensive personnel.
Defensive Line
Washington will have Sebastian Valdez and Jacob Banes, two senior defensive tackles, starting tonight. Valdez is fourth on the team in tackles with 34 including 3.5 TFLs and a sack. He also has a pass breakup and two quarterback hurries. Bandes has made 25 tackles and intercepted a pass.
While you might expect the team’s edge rushers to make significant contributions, the two starters really haven’t. Sophomore Isaiah Ward has made just 20 tackles including five TFLs and three sacks while junior Zach Durfee has made 15 tackles including 3.5 TFLs and 2.5 sacks. Ward also has two pass breakups and Durfee has one.
Linebackers
Washington’s two senior linebackers are definitely the leaders on the defense. Carson Bruener leads the team in tackles with 78 including two TFLs while Alphonzo Tuputala has made 59 tackles with three TFLs and 2.5 sacks. In addition, Bruener has intercepted three passes, broken up five more, had a quarterback hurry and recovered a fumble. Tuputala has added a pass breakup and two quarterback hurries.
Secondary
Senior safety Kamren Fabiculanan is third on the team in tackles with 42 including 0.5 TFLs. He has also intercepted two passes, broken up two more and had a quarterback hurry.
The other starting safety will be either Makell Esteen or Cameron Broussard. Esteen has played in seven games and started six. So, if Esteen if able to play, I would expect him to be the starter. In those seven games, he’s made 31 tackles. On the other hand, Broussard has played in nine games this year and made 24 tackles in those games. He’s also broken up a pass and recovered a fumble.
Moving to the corners, junior transfer Ephesians Prysock came to Washington this year from Arizona with the coaching staff. He’s started every game this year, but he’s listed as an OR on the depth chart with Elijah Jackson. Prysock has made 29 tackles this year and broken up five passes. He’s also forced a fumble. Jackson has made 15 tackles and broken up two passes.
The other corner will be either senior Thaddeus Dixon or junior Darren Barkins. If I had to guess, I would expect Dixon to start since his targeting penalty was called in the first quarter of last week’s game, resulting in his ejection. He’s made 29 tackles including 0.5 TFLs. He leads the Huskies in pass breakups with eight and he has picked off one pass. Barkins replaced Dixon last week after the senior was ejected.
The final Husky defender will be nickel back Jordan Shaw. The redshirt freshman has made 29 tackles including three TFLs. He’s also broken up six passes and recovered a fumble.
Analysis
The Bruins are going to need to find a way to keep Rogers in check when the Huskies have the ball. If Rogers has time to throw, he could very well pick apart the UCLA defense through the air.
UCLA also needs to find a way to stop Jonah Coleman. That should be easier to do than stopping Rogers, only because the Bruins still have the seventh-best rush defense in the nation.
As I mentioned the other day, the Huskies’ Achilles heel on defense is the team’s rushing defense. In order for the Bruins to win tonight, they are going to have to find a way to run the ball the way they did last week.
If they aren’t able to do that, it could be a long night in Seattle.
Go Bruins!!!
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