{"id":79747,"date":"2025-09-15T17:46:04","date_gmt":"2025-09-15T21:46:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/?p=79747"},"modified":"2025-09-16T21:38:30","modified_gmt":"2025-09-17T01:38:30","slug":"preparation-for-apple-cup-wide-receiver-expectations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/2025\/09\/15\/preparation-for-apple-cup-wide-receiver-expectations\/","title":{"rendered":"Preparation for Apple Cup, UW Expectations"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cRivalries are a big deal,\u201d Jedd Fisch said during the bye week, as he was beginning to prepare Washington for the Apple Cup. \u201cThis is a state championship game. This is the opportunity to go out there and go play your best against a team that\u2019s going to do everything they possibly can to beat you.\u201d Washington and Washington State are 2-2 in their last four meetings. The rivalry heads to Pullman this week for the first time since the 2022 season.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Apple Cup Motivation<\/strong><\/h3>\n

\u201cI understand the importance of playing a team that\u2019s fighting for the state championship just like we are,\u201d Fisch said. \u201cOur players will understand that as well.\u201d The Huskies committed 16 penalties and failed to convert on fourth and goal at the one-yard line in last year\u2019s meeting. As far as the approach this year, Fisch said they\u2019ll use that as motivation. \u201cWe use last year, and every other year. We\u2019ll talk about Jayden [de Laura] planting the flag, we\u2019ll talk about all the things that go into this type of a rivalry.\u201d It\u2019s clear from Fisch\u2019s comments that this team is going to be highly motivated for its trip to Pullman. Last year\u2019s shortcomings are not forgotten.<\/span><\/p>\n

Expectations at Wide Receiver<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Fisch confirmed that the injury to Rashid Williams<\/a> was a collarbone injury and that it did require surgery. He said that Williams will be sidelined for close to six weeks. True freshman Dezmen Roebuck<\/a> entered the game in place of Williams after his injury against UC Davis, and he played 60 snaps in the game<\/a>. Roebuck led the Huskies in receiving against UC Davis with four catches for 77 yards and a touchdown.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The former three-star out of Arizona will start for the Huskies this weekend, according to Fisch. “Dezmen Roebuck has certainly earned the right to start,” Fisch said. When asked about how he earned the opportunity, Fisch said, \u201c[He\u2019s] practiced every single day, never missed a day of practice. Never missed an opportunity to meet with his coaches. Never missed an opportunity to dive deep into the playbook and meet with the quarterback.\u201d Fisch said that the summer enrollee stays after every practice to catch extra balls off the machine. He also added that he takes coaching exceptionally well. It\u2019s paid off for him in just a few short months after arriving in Seattle. \u201cWhen he got here, he hasn\u2019t flinched.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Omari Evans & WR Depth<\/strong><\/h3>\n

On Monday of the Apple Cup week, the team confirmed to the media that Omari Evans<\/a> is ready to return to the field. Evans was ruled out of the UC Davis game and was listed as questionable against Colorado State. <\/span>“He practiced full-go yesterday [Sunday],” Fisch said. “I do expect him to be back and be ready to go this week in some capacity.” <\/span><\/p>\n

Getting Evans back is significant for the offense in the absence of Williams. Going into the rivalry game, Washington is expected to start two true freshmen in Roebuck and Raiden Vines-Bright, alongside veteran Denzel Boston. Fisch also mentioned that Evans will be utilized both in the slot – where he’s listed on the depth chart – and outside.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Main Image: Joe Nicholson-Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cRivalries are a big deal,\u201d Jedd Fisch said during the bye week, as he was beginning to prepare Washington for the Apple Cup. \u201cThis is a state championship game. This is the opportunity to go out there and go play your best against a team that\u2019s going to do everything they possibly can to beat […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3944,"featured_media":79755,"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":[5,2,17,35612],"tags":[7983,33247,33692,1666,8764,35066,509],"class_list":["post-79747","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bigten","category-featured","category-news","category-washington-huskies","tag-big-ten-football","tag-denzel-boston","tag-dezmen-roebuck","tag-jedd-fisch","tag-omari-evans","tag-raiden-vines-bright","tag-washington-huskies"],"modified_by":"Michael Kovacs, ADMIN","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79747","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=79747"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79747\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":79756,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79747\/revisions\/79756"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/79755"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=79747"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=79747"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=79747"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}