Washington hosted a “Mock Game” inside Husky Stadium on Saturday night. The game wrapped up almost exactly two weeks to the hour from the season’s opening kickoff against Weber State on August 31st. But this Mock Game wasn’t a typical game format. The contest featured a running clock for most of the first half. The entire game was comprised of just three, uneven quarters. Washington unofficially ran 94 plays. But after most plays, the ball was moved to a specified part of the field to create different offensive situations. The next play didn’t necessarily begin where the previous play ended. Nonetheless, we filled up the chart with the “unofficial” stat line from Washington’s Mock Game.
Stats from the Quarterbacks
Starting with the signal callers, Will Rogers III completed 21 of 23 passes for 231 yards and two touchdowns. But if you add in two goal-line situational snaps that didn’t officially count, Rogers’ stat line would read 266 yards and four touchdowns. Seven of his throws were completed for 20-plus yards, with a long of 27 yards. Rogers’ 27-yard connection was to running back Cameron Davis. He caught the ball on a designed flat route out of the backfield and carried it to the wide-open left side of the field. Rogers’ two touchdown throws were both completed to Jeremiah Hunter. One was a five-yard pass on an end zone fade route to the left side. The other was a 25-yard completion on an end zone corner route in nearly the exact same spot toward the end of the game.
In addition to Rogers, Demond Williams Jr. had a solid day himself. While he did not toss a touchdown, he recorded 85 passing yards on 14 completions with 17 attempts. Williams’ long throw of the day was a 24-yard connection to tight end Keleki Latu over the middle on a vertical route. His pass was a laser of about 23 air yards. The 6’-7” Latu caught the football at a high-point, and gained an additional yard while getting tackled. The Nevada transfer tight end got up slowly after contact but jogged off the field under his own power. He would return later in the contest.
Reserve Quarterbacks Get a Drive
To begin the second half of the game, Teddy Purcell trotted out with the offense in a plus-territory situational format. His first throw was completed for a 30-yard touchdown in the hands of Camden Sirmon. Purcell stayed out on the field for one more pass play that fell incomplete. He finished the day one of two.
Northern Colorado transfer quarterback Shea Kuykendall also got some reps in this situational offense. He attempted three passes but completed no passes. One throw was on time and on target to the wide receiver for a would-be touchdown, but the ball was dropped.
Wide Receiver Stat Line
Washington’s leading receiver in this contest was Hunter, who finished with four catches, 66 yards, and two touchdowns. He was quiet for much of the first portion of the game but made some big catches later in the contest. Denzel Boston made one of the highlight plays of the day with a one-handed grab on a crossing pattern toward the near sideline. The ball seemingly stuck to his hand effortlessly. The 6′-4″ receiver gained 20-plus yards on the play. Boston finished the night with four catches and 66 yards.
Giles Jackson was the most targeted wide receiver in Washington’s Mock Game. He hauled in eight catches for 63 yards. One of Jackson’s catches was a fade pattern for a touchdown in the corner of the end zone. It was a five-yard completion but was not officially reflected on the scoreboard. Jackson had a reception for 24 yards, but the rest of his work came on short patterns of less than 12 yards. Tight end Quentin Moore hauled in two catches for 29 yards and a touchdown, but it was one of Rogers’ touchdown passes that was not reflected on the “official” scorecard.
We unofficially charted 14 different pass catchers in Saturday night’s contest. In addition to the four mentioned above, Arizona transfer Kevin Green Jr. caught three passes for 24 yards, and true freshman Jason Robinson Jr. hauled in a 15-yard reception off the pass of Williams. Fellow class of 2024 receiver Audric Harris spent a lot of time with the two’s in the game, and he caught one pass for 13 yards. In addition to Moore’s catches and Latu’s long reception, tight end Wilson Schwartz hauled in a nine-yard reception. True freshman Decker DeGraaf had a pair of catches for 29 reception yards total.
Running Back Production
Adam Mohammed was tabbed the leading rusher on the day in terms of yardage. The true freshman ran consistently with the second team on Saturday night. He tallied 39 yards on seven carries and caught two short passes out of the backfield. Washington’s presumed starter this season Jonah Coleman had 24 yards on five attempts. In addition to those two, Davis tallied 11 yards on five rushes, and Ryder Bumgarner had a couple of short-yard carries.
Davis’ production wasn’t limited to carrying the ball. He had the longest reception of the day for 27 yards as mentioned previously, and caught three passes out of the backfield for 43 total yards. Bumgarner had two catches for nine yards himself.
Individual Defensive Stats
On the other side of the ball, there were a handful of individual big plays at Washington’s Mock Game. One of the biggest was a defensive touchdown scored during special teams around the middle of the game. On a kick return, the return man fielded the ball and carried it up the middle. There was a scrum to make the tackle, and the football popped out behind the scrum. It was unclear who caused the fumble, but Carson Bruener picked up the loose ball. He carried it about 15 yards into the end zone for the first touchdown of the night.
We recorded four sacks, though there were some other close calls. Tallying sacks is somewhat subjective given the no-contact jerseys on the quarterbacks. At linebacker, Washington recorded two sacks on Saturday night. San Jose State transfer Bryun Parham had one, while sixth-year Alphonzo Tuputala had another. A couple of defensive backs got into the backfield as well. Jordan Shaw and Kamren Fabiculanan each tallied a sack.
Rogers had just two incompletions on the night, and one of them was a pass breakup off the hands of Elinneus Davis. He elevated at the line of scrimmage to break up a pass over the middle for Rogers first incompletion of the contest. Anay Nagarajan also broke up a pass in the game, It was in the end zone on a throw from Kuykendall in the beginning of the second half. Cornerback Ephesians Prysock had a “PBU” as well. It came off the hands of a throw from Williams at quarterback. Defensive lineman Bryce Butler brought down Davis in the backfield for a tackle-for-loss late in the contest.
