Washington Huskies vs. UCLA Bruins: 3 things we learned in bowl-securing home win

You’ve pretty much got to move forward with Demond Williams Jr. as the starting quarterback for the Washington Huskies at this point

I have all the respect possible for Will Rogers. He’s stepped into a thankless job where he knew he wasn’t going to be playing in the offense he initially signed up to play in at Washington (that’s because Kalen DeBoer did his whole leaving thing after Rogers arrived on Montlake, which people don’t talk about enough). 

Rogers also had to deal with a ton of changes. So, in an offense that he wasn’t overly familiar with (shoutout to the Air Raid and all the fun that it is), in a rebuilding year, behind a patchwork offensive line, and trying to connect with receivers that he’d just met, Rogers played okay for most of the season.

But things hit a snag as defenses figured out his tendencies and learned the tendencies of this offense (which likely has a limited playbook relative to what Fisch and Carroll would likely want to run). 

And while prior to the game against UCLA there hadn’t been concrete proof that Demond Williams Jr. was a guaranteed improvement over Rogers, it seems like a more sure thing right now given the way that Williams elevated Washington’s offense in the second half. 

When Rogers was struggling to read UCLA’s defense, Williams came in, proved he could evade defenders while scooting around, and he was an effective enough passer to keep the Bruins on their heels. They weren’t prepared for him at all.

There’s now a chance that a team like Oregon might have enough film to adequately prepare for Williams, and there’s a risk of running him out against a defense as talented as what the Ducks have (and in Autzen Stadium of all places), but he won you a shot at a bowl game. He’s showing very real potential to thrive in this offense. It might just be time to turn things over to him full time at this point. 

Rogers deserves a lot of respect for the way he’s handled this season, especially when things got away from him. He could’ve been a sulking teammate on the sideline. And maybe there were moments that he was. But he was also visibly supportive of Williams during the game against UCLA. And now it seems like it’s time to give the young quarterback a shot at continuing to develop and elevate his game. 

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