Jonah Coleman has undoubtedly been a huge factor in Washington’s offense all throughout the season and the Huskies have a lot to be grateful for by having him on Montlake. And as Coleman helped Washington power past the UCLA Bruins on Friday, the star running back broke the threshold of 1,000 yards rushing on the season.
That’s a pretty significant milestone to celebrate, especially in a season that has seen plenty of highs and lows for UW’s offense.
Jedd Fisch, the head coach of the Huskies, knows his running back pretty well as Coleman played for Fisch when the duo were in Tucson leading the Arizona Wildcats. Washington’s head coach is also familiar with how hard it is to accomplish what Coleman has done on the season.
“Offensively, Jonah Coleman has gone over 1,000 yards on the season,” Fisch noted in his postgame press conference. “So proud of him.”
On top of all of that, Fisch is certainly aware of how big of a deal it was for Coleman to have the sort of showing that he did against the UCLA Bruins defense.
Coleman ground out 95 yards and a couple touchdowns against what Fisch identified as one of the nation’s top rush defenses.
Washington Huskies head coach Jedd Fisch thrilled Jonah Coleman hit 1000 rushing yards in 2024
"That's a number seven rushing defense in the country, and for him to get what he got and for us to have 130 yards rushing, I'm proud of him," Fisch said.
Washington certainly needed Coleman to have a big game as senior quarterback Will Rogers had an up and down sort of game that resulted in him getting benched in favor of Demond Washington Jr. So, for Coleman to play a key role in stabilizing the offense alongside Rogers and then providing a solid threat for Washington to assist the young quarterback was huge for this offense.
Along with Coleman, both quarterbacks were assisted by having quality tight end play from the duo of Keleki Latu and Decker DeGraaf. Both of the tight ends managed to make it into the end zone and that’s something else Fisch was proud of.
"The tight ends, having two tight ends catch touchdown passes was great," Fisch stated.
Washington will now try to prepare its tight ends, talented running back, and whoever is slated to start at quarterback for the upcoming game against the Oregon Ducks at the end of the month. They’ve got a bye week to rest and then a pretty big rivalry game against a team competing to get into the College Football Playoffs as the top seed. No pressure or anything.