The nation’s leading passer and Maxwell Award winner Michael Penix Jr. led the country’s most prolific passing offense to a National Championship game appearance last season. He’s off to the NFL Draft, and backups Dylan Morris and Austin Mack both transferred out of the program. That left a depleted quarterback room, but a room that quickly stabilized itself when the SEC’s second-leading passer of all-time reaffirmed his commitment to Washington. With that, let’s look at Jedd Fisch’s quarterback room as we move through Winter.
SEC Leader Now In Seattle
Will Rogers initially committed to Washington in December but re-entered the transfer portal amid all the coaching changes. His re-commitment to Washington immediately elevated what this Husky offense can be next season. Rogers played four seasons at Mississippi State, with three of them under Mike Leach. The legendary late head coach’s air raid offense put Rogers in a tremendous position to be successful in Starkville.
Rogers played all 26 of Mississippi State’s games as a sophomore and junior. In that stretch, he threw for 8,713 yards and 71 touchdown passes. He became the only SEC quarterback to complete over 1,000 career passes (1,301) and set an SEC record with 505 completions in a single season in 2021. Rogers has played in 43 games with 40 starts. He brings immense experience to Washington at the team’s most important position and should be an excellent fit with Fisch’s offensive philosophy.
Class of 2024 Quarterbacks
Washington added two highly talented four-star quarterbacks in its 2024 signing class. Demond Williams Jr. was one of 20 Elite 11 finalists last summer in the annual quarterback camp and showcase event. He enrolled early at Arizona in January but was one of the many subjects of the transfer portal amid coaching changes. Williams Jr. ended up following Fisch to the Pacific Northwest and signed with Washington.
The Chandler, Arizona native scored 54 total touchdowns as a senior and led Basha High School to a 10-win season. He was responsible for 94 passing touchdowns and 42 rushing touchdowns in his high school career. Williams Jr. stands at 5’-11” but has an excellent ability to deliver the deep ball accurately and has very good timing on intermediate route passing. He’s a pass-first quarterback, but his dual-threat ability is dangerous.
Dermaricus Davis was an early enrollee at Washington this Winter but found himself evaluating his options in the transfer portal shortly after Williams Jr. announced he’d be transferring to Washington. Davis re-committed to Washington a few days later. At Etiwanda High School, Davis was a two-year starter. He tossed 46 touchdown passes for 6,008 yards in that stretch while rushing for 10 additional scores. Davis is no stranger to quarterback competition as well, as he backed up former Texas and now Duke quarterback Maalik Murphy at Junipero Serra High School as a sophomore. Davis teeters at 6’-5” and weighs just under 200 pounds. He has the prototypical quarterback frame and the inevitable competition between him and Williams Jr. is positive for the health of the quarterback room going forward.
Walk-On Quarterbacks
There are only two additional quarterbacks on the roster, neither of whom have seen any action. Teddy Purcell is a junior who walked on at Washington in 2021. He is joined by Camdyn Stiegeler who is a sophomore for the Huskies. The Oregon native also walked on to the program. This year it might be different for these two, however. The quarterback room at Washington is talented but very thin. After the fifth-year senior in Rogers, there’s a gap all the way to the two true freshmen. Purcell and Stiegeler have not played yet either, but they’ve been in the program for a combined five seasons. It’s not unlikely that these two get some additional reps this offseason depending on how Washington utilizes the Spring transfer portal window.
