Scouting Washington football QB Demond Williams Jr.

Quarterback Demond Williams Jr. announced that he is transferring from the University of Arizona to the University of Washington to play for Jedd Fisch and the coaching staff that recruited him out of high school.

We wanted to provide Husky fans with an in-depth scouting report on the talents of the highly regarded quarterback.

Demond Williams Jr. comes to Washington ranked as a Top 200 recruit by 247 sports for the class of 2024 out of Basha High School in Chandler, Arizona. Coming in at 5-foot-11, 170-pound Williams became one of the select few quarterbacks in the country who became an Elite 11 finalist in the months before his senior season.

His performance at the Elite 11 finals set him up to have an excellent senior season as he completed 77% of his passes for 3,250 yards, and 34 touchdowns, while only throwing three interceptions in twelve games—all of which earned him a spot in the All-American Bowl after his senior season.

Despite being undersized for a prototypical high-level quarterback prospect, Williams makes up for his lack of size with his dual-threat ability as he is an elite athlete. Williams is a dynamic runner from the quarterback position as he has the straight-line speed to run by college defenders, he impressively ran the 100-meter dash in 11.01s before his senior season. He is also agile enough to make quick cuts and change direction in an instant on designed quarterback runs on top of having an impressive ability to accelerate on one cut that allows him to explode into the open field.

While he is a great running quarterback, I would classify Williams as more of a scrambler than a runner because on drop backs if he gets pressured he will climb or escape the pocket while keeping his eyes downfield as opposed to just taking off and running on the first sign of pressure drop backs.

Williams is not just a running back playing quarterback, he can also pass the ball exceptionally well as he possesses elite arm talent. On top of elite pocket mobility, Williams throws the ball with excellent velocity at three levels allowing him to make every throw that a high-level college quarterback will have to make. He also has an impressive ability to throw fifty-plus yards down the field while he is off-platform and on the run with accuracy.

Arm talent isn't just arm strength—it also factors in a player's ability to throw with touch, accuracy, and ball placement—all of which Williams displayed during his high school career. Williams can take the velocity off of the ball on short and intermediate passes to throw with touch which makes him a wide receiver-friendly quarterback as he throws an extremely catchable ball.

He can also layer throws over the middle which is huge because throwing over the middle of the field is such a huge focal point of the new age offenses that it has become almost a requirement to have success. Williams also has excellent ball placement on his throws as he often places the ball in a spot where the receiver doesn't have to brake stride putting it right on the facemask.

The area that Williams will have to improve the most if he is going to have success at the college level is his processing ability. It will be on the new coaching staff to improve his ability to quickly go from his first read to his second or third read all while he is dropping back. He will also have to improve his on becoming an anticipatory thrower as he'll need to throw the ball on time because if he waits until the receiver is open he will often have to speed up his mechanics which will lead to him being inaccurate.

All of the flaws that I mentioned are not uncommon with a quarterback making the jump from high school to college. If the new coaching staff can improve his processing ability to the level of a college quarterback before the season begins then there is no reason that with Williams's running and passing ability, he can't have immediate success with the Huskies.