In recent seasons, the University of Washington football team has turned to a veteran running back-for-hire because it hasn’t been able to recruit and develop one. The younger guys have been injured, got in trouble, were too slow or no longer fit the offense.
Grooming a recruit out of high school or someone fairly new to the college game to succeed in Montlake has been out of the question.
The list of scholarship departures from the Husky backfield is a long and wieldy one, with Caleb Berry, Aaron Dumas, Emeka Megwa, Will Nixon, Tybo Rogers and Jay’Veon Sunday all exiting in the past two years, either by choice or by suggestion.
For the coming season, the Huskies will turn almost exclusively to an older runner once more, Arizona transfer Jonah Coleman, who, if he can get some adequate blocking from a reordered offensive line, could be a highly productive back. Last year, he led the Wildcats in rushing with 128 carries for 892 yards and 5 touchdowns, three scores coming against Washington State. This year, he’ll pull on Rome Odunze’s old No. 1 jersey and look to make more big plays.
This is one in a series of articles — going from 0 to 99 on the Husky roster — examining what each scholarship player and leading walk-on did this past spring and what to expect from them going forward.
Things to like about the 5-foot-9, 225-pound Coleman are his toughness and quickness, plus he’s very straightforward in the way he thinks. Such as, he’s tired of people disparaging his mostly young Husky offensive linemen. Give them time, he says.
“Everyone talks about them, everyone puts them down,” he said at the end of spring football. “The good thing about us and the brotherhood that we have in the locker room, we pick them up. Obviously, you see Twitter: ‘We need O-line, we need this, we need that.’ We don’t need nothin’. We’ve got us and I’ve got their back with whoever. I don’t care what anyone says about them. My guys are being developed, and they got better, and the sky’s the limit for them.”
Of course, those horizons will include him, as well. For Arizona, Coleman had breakout games last season against Colorado, rushing 11 times for 179 yards, and against USC, with 22 carries for 143 yards, the only times he’s been over the century mark as a collegian.
Once the Huskies have their offensive line in place, with Landen Hatchett at center and Drew Azzopardi at right tackle anchoring it and teamed with three holdovers and/or newcomers, Coleman should be able to get out and run for similar numbers.
Meantime, Fisch’s staff will have seniors Cam Davis and Daniyel Ngata plus junior Sam Adams Jr. available to spell him. More importantly, the Huskies will have two fairly promising freshmen in Adam Mohammed and Jordan Washington in the development mix, honing their talents and working toward the day when Coleman is gone and they can take over.
What he’s done: Coleman twice played against the UW. In 2022, he made his first college start as a freshman against Kalen DeBoer’s team and rushed 14 times for 53 yards and a score in Arizona’s 49-39 loss at Husky Stadium. By contrast, Davis was the UW’s leading rusher that day with 41 yards on 8 carries for 2 TDs.
This past season, Coleman finished with 44 yards on a dozen carries against the Huskies, with the Wildcats playing catch-up most of the way in a 31-24 loss in Tucson, while the UW’s Dillon Johnson got loose on 16 carries for 91 yards and 2 scores. Coleman should be healthier and more durable than Johnson, the Mississippi State transfer who played injured and on sheer guts for much of the past season.
Starter or not: The job belongs to Coleman. It was his all spring without interruption. He runs and catches the ball equally well. He plays hard. He’s a junior who had seven starts over two seasons for Arizona and should be peaking as a college football player. Outside of wondering who will be blocking for him, Coleman won’t be a mystery — he should be a solid offensive contributor for the Huskies. His best work is ahead of him.
