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The Daily

Troy Williams is pursued by Marcus Farria (23) and Psalm Wooching in the Spring Game on Saturday.

Mother Nature rains on UW's Spring Game parade

Washington football’s “Spring Preview” felt a lot more like a typical October Saturday than an April one. A steady rain fell for the first hour and a half of the UW’s final spring practice Saturday, and fans congregated mostly in the second deck of Husky Stadium under the overhang to watch the Huskies’ spring game. It was more of a practice than a game, in truth, though it featured extra 11-on-11 work. It also featured the final chance for quarterbacks Jeff Lindquist and Troy Williams to impress both the coaching staff and the fans in attendance. Lindquist had a much better day Saturday, throwing four touchdown passes, albeit working mostly with the first team offense against the second team defense. Williams, meanwhile, did not throw a touchdown pass. He was under constant pressure from the Huskies’ first team defensive unit, most notably defensive end Hau’oli Kikaha, who sacked Williams three times. Still, head coach Chris Petersen said after the game that he was impressed with both quarterbacks throughout the spring. He also said that the competition at the spot is not over yet. “I think they both did a good job,” Petersen said. “They got a lot of reps, which was really, really nice. I think they probably feel like they improved as much as anybody.” Williams talked to the media for the first time all spring on Saturday. The redshirt freshman echoed his coach’s sentiments. “I think I’ve progressed a lot,” Williams said. “Especially with the new playbook coming in and new reads, new progressions. It’s been fun. I was in my playbook every night in my dorm just trying to make sure I get everything right the next day at practice.” But it was Lindquist who impressed more Saturday. The sophomore threw touchdowns on his first three drives of the 11-on-11 session, finding Jaydon Mickens, Darrell Daniels, and Marvin Hall. He also found John Ross on a quick slant that the speedy wide receiver broke for a 29-yard score later in practice. “I think today was just a really fun day for us to cap off our spring parade with a performance like this,” Lindquist said. “Obviously there were things that we could clean up, but I think it was a fun way to end it.” Another interesting position battle to watch in the summer has developed at running back. Dwayne Washington and Jesse Callier both missed much of camp with injuries, and neither played Saturday. That gave Deontae Cooper and Lavon Coleman the bulk of the work all spring long, and that carried through to the final day. Cooper showed nice explosiveness and cutting ability Saturday, breaking off a number of nice runs. He said recently his knees felt as healthy as they have since he arrived at the UW. Meanwhile, Coleman impressed in his own right Saturday. While he was bottled up by the front seven at times, he broke off a long touchdown run of about 50 yards near the end of the scrimmage. Coleman bumped into Williams in the backfield, and he appeared to get trapped along the right sideline, but Coleman reversed field and broke free and sprinted into the left corner of the zone for the score. Notes -There was no new injury news Saturday, which the Huskies will count as a victory. Remaining sidelined were Dexter Charles, Micah Hatchie, Ryan McDaniel, Jarett Finau, Callier, and Washington. In yellow non-contact jerseys were linebackers Shaq Thompson, who appeared to injure his right arm in Tuesday’s practice and wore yellow Thursday, Cory Littleton, and Scott Lawyer, and defensive backs Brandon Beaver and Kevin King. -The Huskies competed in three competitions with and against fans. The first was called Race Ross and was a race between John Ross and five fans who started 5-10 yards ahead of him. Ross won the race by at least five yards. Later, the fans actually beat the linemen in a punt catching drill. The last event was a sled pushing relay race with teams made of fans and players pitting the offense against defense, with the offense getting the victory. Reach Sports Editor Daniel Rubens at sports@dailyuw.com. Twitter: @drubens12
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