Washington Huskies revamp offense for 2020 season
The Washington Huskies football program is in a transition. With new coaches and major personnel changes, the offense will look very different in 2020.
It’s a new era for Washington Huskies football. Head coach Chris Peterson stepped down after last season, and Jimmy Lake was promoted from defensive coordinator to fill the job. Among the many changes to the coaching staff, Washington hired John Donovan away from the Jacksonville Jaguars to be their new offensive coordinator, replacing Bush Hamden.
Over the last two years, U-Dub used a strong ground attack to open the passing game. This strategy worked well as the Huskies offense averaged a hair under 30 points per game. Now that Donovan is running the offense, we take a look at what he has to work with.
A new coach with a new system
From his April conference call, Donovan said he put together a playbook based on his experiences coaching in both college and the NFL. He was able to install part of his offensive scheme before the COVID-19 hiatus. The biggest hurdle to implementation was getting everyone on the same page with new language and terminology.
Donovan is a coordinator who prefers to mix the run and pass. In his system, it starts up front with what the coach described as continuing the tradition of toughness Washington has earned. Playing physical on the line is “an absolute necessity for us to be who we want to be and where we want to go.”
Offensive line
Washington has young talent on the O-Line. It will be tough to replace departed starters Nick Harris, Jared Hilbers, and Trey Adams. Donovan and offensive line coach Scott Huff logged many hours with the lineman in Zoom meetings to get everyone comfortable with the base offense. The group will have to grow up fast because the first game of the season is against Michigan. The Wolverines are a program that traditionally plays tough in the trenches.
Quarterbacks
As of now, last season’s number two quarterback, Jacob Sirmon is the favorite to win the starting job. He is the prototype for a traditional pro offense style quarterback at 6-5, 230-pounds, with a big arm, who can stand in the pocket. He will have competition from both highly incoming freshman Ethan Garbers and redshirt frosh Dylan Morris. All three were rated as four-star recruits by 24/7 sports.
Skill positions
The skill positions also took big hits. Key pieces of last season’s offense Aaron Fuller, Salvon Ahmed, Hunter Bryant, and Andre Baccellia are all in the NFL now. It will be up to running back Sean McGrew, tight end Cade Otton, and wide receiver Terrell Bynum to lead the way. A player to watch is second-year receiver Marquis Spiker. He is a versatile player who can hurt opponents from different positions on the field.
Outlook
From a pure talent standpoint, Washington has as much of it as almost any team in the PAC-12. There will be plenty of struggles early on due to the unfortunate combination of new coaches, inexperienced players, and limited practice time. The team Huskies fans see at the end of 2020 will be vastly better than the one that started it.
The key will be not getting too deep in the hole as the two of the first three conference games are against Oregon and defending champion Utah. If U-dub can win four out of the first six, they will be in contention for a PAC-12 North title.
How do you feel about the Washington Huskies offense going into the 2020 season? Let us know in the comments section below or on social media.