Washington football has the possibility to land at least one player on the Freshman All-America team, but who would it be?
Washington football has brought in some immensely talented recruiting classes over the past two seasons, and with some of those guys getting a chance to play early on, who has the best chance to make a Freshman All-American team?
Note: for the sake of this article, I used only true freshman from the 2019 recruiting class, a separate piece will be written for the possible redshirt freshmen that could make the team just like Jaxson Kirkland did last season.
Cam Williams
This is the most obvious choice, and the Taylor Rapp comparisons can live on for Cam Williams, as Rapp was also named a freshman All-American during the 2016 season. Williams has displayed a very high football IQ since he stepped on campus, and being the first true freshman starter for the Huskies since Rapp won’t hurt his case at all.
During his first season on campus, Rapp recorded 51 tackles, four interceptions (including a pick six in the Pac-12 title game) and two passes defensed. Williams can easily put up those kinds of numbers, and if he does that while leading the Husky defense to another Pac-12 title, he can easily make the team.
Laiatu Latu
The massive, explosive, incredible, Laiatu Latu made a big impact in his first college game, recording Washington’s first safety since 2013. While that alone is obviously not enough to get him on the freshman All-American team, Chris Petersen has confirmed that the coaching staff currently plans to not redshirt Latu at the moment, although he said those plans can change.
With his power and quickness off the edge, Latu has the potential to be a double digit sack guy during his first year. Those would easily be freshman All-American type numbers, and could even show potential recruits like Jordan Banks and Save’ll Smalls a glimpse into their future on Montlake.
Puka Nacua
This one could be a bit of a stretch, depending on his usage, but the fact that Puka Nacua was out there for the second play of the season for the Huskies means that he’s starting to prove himself to Chris Petersen. He could see a major uptick in his workload over the course of the season. He didn’t record a catch during the win over Eastern, but if he can continue to get himself playing time, the stats will come.