2020 Washington Huskies Football Preview – Offense
Jacob Sirmon, Washington Huskies football.
Quarterback
Jacob Sirmon came into spring as the heir apparent to Jacob Eason, who decided to take a pass on his senior year and enter the NFL early. The sophomore only played sparingly in a mop-up role last season as a redshirt freshman in five games.
Kevin Thomson is a graduate student transfer from Sacramento State. He is a local who played his high school ball at Auburn Riverside. Out of high school, he went to UNLV, where he suffered a serious elbow injury. A year later, he transferred to FCS school Sacramento State. Thomson is a double threat, running the ball 619 yards while scoring 12 touchdowns last season as well as throwing for 3219 yards and 27 touchdowns against only eight interceptions in 450 throws.
Without as much practice time this year because of the pandemic, it’s likely that Thomson, with his college experience, will get the starting nod for opening day. I’m sure we will see more of Jacob Sirmon this coming season than he had last season.
Running Back
Last year Salvon Ahmed was the Huskies featured back; however, he decided to forgo his senior year by leaving for the NFL early. Unfortunately, Ahmed went undrafted. He signed as a free agent and is currently on the Miami Dolphins practice squad.
Richard Newton, a redshirt freshman last year, steps into Ahmed’s shoes. Newton announced himself to Husky Nation when he scored his first college touchdown from 23 yards out in the opener against Eastern Washington. Though he frequently carried the ball, coming in for Ahmed, his specialty was finding the end zone. Newton had 498 yards and 10 TDs on the season. Not a bad season for someone who missed three games.
Senior Sean McGrew will be the guy spelling UW’s featured back this year. In 2019 he played 10 games. McGrew excelled in limited opportunities. He carried the ball 55 times for 342 yards, an average of 6.2 yards-per-carry. Washington also returns senior Kamari Pleasant, who played in 11 games last year. The running back position is in good hands.