{"id":72884,"date":"2025-03-12T09:00:31","date_gmt":"2025-03-12T13:00:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/?p=72884"},"modified":"2025-09-16T21:38:58","modified_gmt":"2025-09-17T01:38:58","slug":"rogers-hunter-sieze-opportunity-at-washington-pro-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/2025\/03\/12\/rogers-hunter-sieze-opportunity-at-washington-pro-day\/","title":{"rendered":"Washington’s Rogers, Hunter Seize Pro Day Opportunity"},"content":{"rendered":"

Will Rogers<\/a> and Jeremiah Hunter<\/a> each transferred to Washington prior to the 2024 season with similar trajectories. Rogers was off of a four-year run at Mississippi State where he set numerous passing records<\/a> in the SEC. Hunter led Cal in receiving yards in back-to-back seasons before heading up the coast to Washington. But both players\u2019 seasons didn\u2019t quite meet the expectations set upon arrival. Nonetheless, Rogers and Hunter each played critical roles for the program throughout the season that translated to victories. On March 10th, the two had their opportunity to showcase their talents in front of NFL scouts and personnel at Washington Pro Day. In doing so, Rogers and Hunter both ended their Husky careers on high notes.<\/span><\/p>\n

Former Transfers Impress at Washington Pro Day<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Rogers’ Outlook At The Next Level<\/strong><\/h3>\n

\u201cFor sure it\u2019s hard,\u201d Rogers began. \u201cIf anybody tells you that you\u2019re not doing a good enough job\u2026 yeah it\u2019s hard.\u201d After his Pro Day, the former Washington quarterback described what it was like to lose the starting quarterback role. He was ultimately replaced by Demond Williams Jr.<\/a> late in the season. But there was never any inkling of controversy between the two. Rogers\u2019 relationship with Williams was strong, and it contributed to the younger quarterback\u2019s smooth transition into the starting job. \u201cEven if you\u2019re not taking the snaps every day, you still have to add value to the room.”<\/span><\/p>\n

Rogers said that became his focus late in the season after falling down the depth chart. Rather than taking an observatory role, he remained an active leader as the second-string. Rogers compared that experience to what he might be able to provide at the next level. \u201cI feel like my job at the end of the season could kind of be my job in the NFL, maybe like a backup quarterback.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The former Husky quarterback stands out because of his leadership and locker room presence. His ability to encourage and support teammates even from the background was apparent in the final few weeks of the season. \u201cMy biggest argument for myself is whatever team or organization decides to take me, that team is going to be better off for it,\u201d Rogers said. \u201cI\u2019m optimistic about any chance that I get.\u201d During his throwing session, Rogers made the most of the chance he had in front of NFL scouts, throwing with quality timing and accuracy.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Pro Day Passing Results<\/strong><\/h3>\n

The five-year starting quarterback in the SEC and the Big Ten measured at 6\u2019-2\u201d and 207 pounds with 8 \u215d\u201d hands. Rogers’ vertical leap of 33 \u00bd\u201d was the third-highest of Husky participants at Pro Day. The throwing session was the last session of the morning, and Rogers supported his teammates who worked out before him in individual position drills. Rogers threw to four Husky pass-catchers including Giles Jackson<\/a>, Keleki Latu<\/a>, Daniyel Ngata<\/a>, and Hunter. Each one of them caught around a dozen passes from their quarterback.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Rogers had been working out with a private quarterback coach this Winter in Scottsdale, Arizona. He said his goals were to get his body back healthy and dissect ways to, \u201cGet more into the ball,\u201d as he described it. \u201cReally just trying to get a little more zip on the ball,\u201d Rogers said, \u201cWhich I felt like I have.\u201d It certainly looked that way during Pro Day. Rogers was on time and on target for nearly every throw he made. There was a good amount of zip on the football, and he connected on several deep throws, hitting his receivers in stride. \u201cI thought it went good, it went smooth. And I\u2019m excited to see what\u2019s next.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Hunter Takes Advantage of Opportunity<\/strong><\/h3>\n

In his final season of college football, Hunter hauled in just one touchdown catch on 36 catches for 490 yards. \u201cOn the field,\u201d Hunter recalled, \u201cIt was kind of \u2018iffy\u2019 I guess you can say. I was trying to make everything perfect instead of playing.\u201d The former Cal pass catcher had just seven receptions in non-conference play to begin the season. But as the year progressed, he settled in and began finding his comfort zone. \u201cAfter the first few weeks I felt like it was smooth,\u201d he said. \u201cI didn\u2019t have the season that I wanted based on production. But I can control what I can\u2026It was a blessing overall.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Despite the numbers on the field, Hunter made an impression during Pro Day at Washington. He measured in at 6\u2019-1 \u215c\u201d and 208 pounds, posted 11 reps on the bench press, and recorded a 28 \u00bd\u201d vertical leap. Hunter then moved into the throwing session where he was crisp with his route running and displayed sticky hands. He hauled in some quality hands catches on throws from Rogers, including one over the middle that was slightly behind him. Hunter was running to his left on a slant, jumped, and spun away from his momentum to haul in the catch. He landed the spinning catch and cut upfield. Hunter\u2019s presence over the middle of the field had been a strength his entire career. That catch embodied his skillset.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cComing here just shows that I can make the most out of my opportunities,\u201d Hunter said after Pro Day. \u201cI feel like I\u2019m a reliable receiver, I\u2019m going to make the tough catches.\u201d He did just that in front of NFL scouts on Monday. \u201cIn my head I feel like I\u2019m a top 15 receiver with the ability I have.\u201d While his name might not be swirling at the top of NFL Draft boards, Hunter is a receiver who\u2019s confident in his skillset and backs it up when given opportunities on the field.<\/span><\/p>\n

Photo courtesy: Nick Lemkau<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Will Rogers and Jeremiah Hunter each transferred to Washington prior to the 2024 season with similar trajectories. Rogers was off of a four-year run at Mississippi State where he set numerous passing records in the SEC. Hunter led Cal in receiving yards in back-to-back seasons before heading up the coast to Washington. But both players\u2019 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3944,"featured_media":72889,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2,5,35612],"tags":[33521,33210,509,7237],"class_list":["post-72884","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-bigten","category-washington-huskies","tag-giles-jackson","tag-jeremiah-hunter","tag-washington-huskies","tag-will-rogers"],"modified_by":"Michael Kovacs, ADMIN","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72884","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3944"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=72884"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72884\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":72890,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72884\/revisions\/72890"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/72889"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=72884"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=72884"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=72884"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}