What to know about Washington's first scrimmage of training camp
The Huskies ran more than 100 scrimmage plays on Day 9 of camp.
From Christian: I’m out this weekend, but am fortunate to have Ty Gilstrap, a student journalist at UW, filling in for me. Read on for his thoughts and observations from Washington’s Saturday night practice.
SEATTLE — After a number of mid-morning practices on the east field, Washington held its first scrimmage of preseason camp in a near-empty Husky Stadium on a perfect Saturday evening.
In total, coach Jedd Fisch estimated the Huskies ran somewhere around 150 plays, with about 120 of those split between 11-on-11 and red-zone work and the rest dedicated to special teams. With a handful of players gradually ramping up to full playing time after injury, Fisch acknowledged that the first half included several players whom the staff didn’t want to “get tackled or have them tackle.”
That half happened to coincide with offensive struggles, with both groups often unable to finish their drives. Scoring improved as the night wrapped up, but likely could be attributed to the benefit of starting in the red zone.
“Offense clearly started off very slow,” Fisch said. “Defense started off fast. Offense then came out in the second half and scored a bunch of touchdowns, and then the defense didn’t respond like we would expect them to. But it’s an opportunity to learn.”
Here’s what else you need to know from Day 9 of Washington’s training camp.