The Husky Haul
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Washington Football Offseason Mailbag

By Roman Tomashoff

BERKELEY, CA - OCTOBER 27: Byron Murphy #1 of the Washington Huskies looks on between plays against the California Golden Bears at California Memorial Stadium on October 27, 2018 in Berkeley, California. (Photo by Lachlan Cunningham/Getty Images)
BERKELEY, CA - OCTOBER 27: Byron Murphy #1 of the Washington Huskies looks on between plays against the California Golden Bears at California Memorial Stadium on October 27, 2018 in Berkeley, California. (Photo by Lachlan Cunningham/Getty Images) /
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With the downtime we have in the Washington football offseason, we want to try to answer as many of your questions as possible! Here’s the first installment of the Husky Haul mailbag.

How is DJ Beavers after the Rose Bowl injury?- @steph81109

Beavers’ true status is unknown, as Coach Petersen usually likes to keep things quiet on the injury front, so we can only hope for the best. Beavers is an immensely talented player when he can get on the field.

Who on the current team looks the most “NFL ready?”- @BigFlyce

If we’re talking the 2018 team, it would have to be Taylor Rapp or Byron Murphy. Both guys have the talent to be NFL starters from day one. Another player to watch would be Kaleb McGary, the 6’7, 315 pound tackle will probably be a day two pick, but he has the potential to be an instant starter.

Looking ahead to 2019, the standout would have to be Trey Adams. If he can prove that he’s healthy, he could establish himself as the best offensive tackle in the 2020 NFL Draft class.

The kicking game has clearly been a weakness for a couple of years now, and may well have cost a few games. Is there any hope that will be stronger in 2019? – @The_Cantidates

Yes, there’s lots of hope! While Peyton Henry is no Cameron Van Winkle, he did about as well as anyone probably expected the redshirt freshman to do. In 2019 though, the Huskies are bringing in highly touted high school kicker Timothy Horn from Hawaii. Husky fans should be very excited about Horn, because Chris Petersen is. “They said they weren’t planning on offering or taking a kicker in this class, but once they saw me kick, they said they just felt like I was a big-time kicker and I was someone they wanted to get into the program,” Horn said to Scott Eklund of 247 Sports.

How can UW continue to pull in highly ranked quarterbacks when the stable is already packed with thoroughbreds? We’re bound to see some transfers, right? – @Dork_Rage

It wouldn’t be surprising if someone ends up transferring, but if that does happen, we won’t see it for another year. Jacob Eason will probably leave for the NFL Draft after the 2019 season, and the position will be wide open. Dylan Morris, Jacob Sirmon, and Colson Yankoff are all excellent players, and Jake Haener was able to hold off the latter two and hang on to the backup job this year as well. But in the event that we don’t see a transfer, which I see as a very likely scenario, it won’t end poorly, as all these guys know the situation they’re coming into, and they want to compete.

Personally, my money is on Sirmon to take over in 2020, he seems to be the best fit for what the Huskies want to do on offense. Yankoff might be the most talented, and I think he’ll definitely see snaps on offense as well. I wouldn’t be surprised to see the Huskies run some kind of two-quarterback system, just to get both of them involved in the offense.

Which true freshman will make the biggest impact on defense next year?- @Brittwall333

The sexy pick would be one of the young defensive tackles, Faatui Tuitele or Jacob Bandes, and I believe they’re both going to have a huge impact, but my money is going to be on the freshman Joshua Calvert, as inside linebacker is going to be the biggest need for the Huskies in 2019 after the graduation of Ben Burr-Kirven and Tevis Bartlett. That’s 200 total tackles that need to be replaced, and Calvert can be a key piece in that puzzle.

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