Jedd Fisch is under pressure to revive the Huskies. After Kalen DeBoer’s departure to Alabama, Fisch inherited a not-so-robust program. As he filled the shoes of the new head coach, his roster buckled, with 26 players entering the portal. It was a challenging unit at Montlake, with the head coach concluding the 2024 season with a not-so-electrifying 6-7. So, what’s next in Fisch’s playbook for the upcoming season?

Now the chatter around the WR room is heating up. As fall camp comes to its conclusion, who is going to be the starting WR? The WR room is not short of depth, consisting of Denzel Boston, Omari Evans, Audric Harris, and Rashid Williams. But owing to injuries, seasoned wide receivers Boston and Evans kept to the sidelines. Looking at how the spring and fall drills came to be, another prospect is showing flashes of excellence, and he is rising up fast. Enter freshman Raiden Vines-Bright, who made some impressive catches, earning the nod from the head coach.

Analysts are already pegging Raiden to be a starter. In a conversation, Roman Tomashoff and Lars Hanson talk about the offense on Locked On Huskies. “Let’s not forget he did get a significant amount of first-team reps in throughout fall camp and specifically in the mock game.” Hanson started.

“Looking down at one of my notes, and you know, I just kind of write down the offensive players, and it was 210, Rasheed, Decker, Quinton Moore, and then plus Raiden, and I think that’s kind of where the question comes in, which position would he start?” The coaching staff clearly loves what Rashid Williams brings to the Z. Prior to the start of the fall camp, the head coach mentioned that he expects to settle on a four-player rotation once the season kicks off.

Then zooming into Omari Evans’s skills, Tomashoff said. “We’ve seen him run with the first team. We’ve seen him run with the second team, and I think he might just not be completely comfortable in the slot yet, whereas Raiden’s taken more reps there.”

While the 6’1″, 200-pound WR from Arizona missed quite a few spring drills owing to his hamstring injury, Raiden did not hold back to show impressive flashes of talent during the rest of the reps. Quite impressive, to the point that UW quarterback alum and eight-year NFL Veteran Hugh Millen called him an NFL Draft product.

Roman further added. “But then you have the other two options that are not necessarily set in stone, but you do have some veteran guys above him, but he really has showed out well consistently throughout spring and fall camp, but you know, again, more so fall camp because he was actually healthy.” An IMG product, he was true to his merit. During the Huskies’ Dawgs After Dark spring game, he tallied eight receptions for an estimated 151 yards and a 16-yard touchdown catch.

Jedd Fisch saw to his merit as well. “He had a great time. He’s had a great…three practices. He missed. I believe it was six practices in the middle of spring. Three weeks due to a hamstring, and he got really fully cleared last Monday (April 21).” Before stepping foot at IMG Academy, he was a valuable player for Corona del Sol in Tempe, Arizona. In his junior year, he clinched the 6A Central Region Offensive Player of the Year, tallying 59 catches for 1,114 yards and nine touchdowns.

The WR room is yet under discussion presently, but what about the starting quarterback?

Demond Williams Jr.: the face of the Washington Huskies

Well, last season, Jedd Fisch offered the then-freshman Demond Williams to lead the offense, and for the next season as well, he is pegged to be the QB1. Last season, Demond Williams Jr. made his starting debut as a freshman, and was he a delight at Montlake? Yeah, he has got his stats to back it up. Completing 78% of his passes, throwing 944 yards, eight touchdowns, and just one interception. That’s not it. He ran 83 times for 282 yards, adding two rushing touchdowns. His impressive standout moment came during the Sun Bowl against Louisville, where he tallied 422 yards of total offense and five touchdowns. His dual-threat ability is what makes him precious for Jedd Fisch and the Huskies.

Even PFF’s Dalton Wasserman called him one of the top breakout candidates this season.“He’s an athlete, he’s got a high ceiling,” Wasserman said on the PFF College Football Show. “I think when you’re talking about the little bit of time that he played last year, he had a start against Oregon [and] over an 80 PFF grade. He had a start against Louisville, solid team, over an 80 PFF grade.”

Zooming in on Montlake, it is pretty clear that Demond is the linchpin in Jedd Fisch’s vision. Last year was a rocky revival, and this season, the fire is already ignited at the Huskies camp. The head coach has called him the face of his program and claims that he can be an elite player in the Big Ten. Let’s see how they square off against Colorado State.