Washington football’s freshman receivers are standing out
After a subpar performance from Washington football’s receivers for the majority of 2019, expect a much different result in 2020
Since Junior Adams took over as Washington football’s wide receivers coach, they have secured aix commitments, five of them from four-star prospects. The first commit, Puka Nacua, showed out as a true freshman in 2019, and now with a free year of eligibility, the 2020 commits got next.
Jalen McMillan was the highest-profile wide receiver commit for the Huskies. The top-50 prospect showed his top-end speed at the All-American Bowl when he scored a 75-yard touchdown on the game’s opening play. With this free year of eligibility, Adams and offensive coordinator John Donovan need to get this future star some snaps as soon as they can to get him acclimated to college play. While he’ll likely struggle against press coverage at first, there aren’t a lot of corners that can keep up with him downfield.
Speaking of speed, with McMillan on one side and Rome Odunze on the other, Donovan can have two track stars that can truly stretch the field vertically. Odunze has been the most impressive freshman on offense, and it appears that he’s been getting run with the first-team offense as well. It appears that Puka Nacua and Terrell Bynum are penciled in as two starters right now, and the third spot is up for grabs. While senior Ty Jones should be the favorite to take that last opening, the fact that Odunze is already getting reps with the starters is an exciting thought for the future of the Husky offense.
Sawyer Racanelli is also getting some love from his teammates, and that’s an exciting thought. Racanelli fits the mold of Cooper Kupp (a Junior Adams product) perfectly. To hear that he’s progressing well from the ACL tear he suffered before his senior season is very promising for the future. Don’t expect him to get much, if any, work during the shortened season, but he should be a full go for 2021.
Cade Otton says the true freshmen WRs — Sawyer Racanelli, Rome Odunze and Jalen McMillan — are "balling out and making plays."
— Christian Caple (@ChristianCaple) October 13, 2020
This is the first year where we truly get to see Junior Adams work as a coach. He was limited by Chris Petersen, who didn’t give Adams full control over the depth chart, and emplored his complex offensive scheme which wasn’t fully mastered by some of the younger receivers. With a simpler scheme and Adams fully in control of who’s on the field, Washington fans should see a much more exciting offense in 2020.