Sam Huard snags spotlight as Washington QB competition revs up
With fall camp officially open at Washington, the Huskies’ quarterbacks are in a full-on rotation as coach Kalen DeBoer and his staff try to settle on a top guy. Whoever takes reps with the first team one day probably won’t be the same guy taking first-team reps the next day.
On Friday, it was Sam Huard’s turn to work with the top group. He drew some nice attention from the folks in attendance. Here’s a sampling:
Today provided a nice window into the Sam Huard dilemma. UW’s redshirt freshman QB threw a bad pick to Dom Hampton where he stared down his WR … then bounced back with three long TD passes — one apiece to McMillan, Odunze and Tinae. Encouraging day on the whole.
— Mike Vorel (@mikevorel) August 5, 2022
Granted, we didn’t see much practice in the spring, but today was the best I’ve seen Sam Huard throw it. Three long TDs to Jalen McMillan, Rome Odunze and Jabez Tinae. All really pretty throws. Bounced back after throwing a pick to Dom Hampton.
— Christian Caple (@ChristianCaple) August 5, 2022
Sam Huard is tearin it up at practice today.
— Evan Feather (@evan_feather) August 5, 2022
After a bad interception, Sam Huard bounced back for his best practice of the offseason.
~50 yd touchdown pass to McMillan in 7-on-7, a deep touchdown to Tinae in 11-on-11, and he moved the ball better than the other QBs.
This is very much still a three-man QB battle.
— Ethan Kilbreath (@EthanArles) August 5, 2022
Sam Huard threw a pretty bad pick into double coverage to Dom Hampton, and immediately followed it up with a 60 yard touchdown to Jalen McMillan
— Roman Tomashoff (@rtomashoff34) August 5, 2022
In the three-man competition, Huard is by far the least experienced of the group.
Michael Penix Jr., the Indiana transfer, started from a position of strength in the race. Having worked with DeBoer at Indiana in 2019—DeBoer was his offensive coordinator—he had the strongest initial grasp of the offense. Dylan Morris started all four games in 2020 and then 11 of 12 games for the Huskies last season.
But Huard provides undeniable intrigue. He’s a former 5-star quarterback and theoretically hasn’t come close to reaching his ceiling. He made just four appearances as a true freshman last year. As he matures and develops, there will be bumps along the way. It’s on the UW coaches to decide if the highs outweigh the lows.