EWU Coach Praises Washington Football Star QB's Dual-Threat Ability

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Entering Washington's non-conference finale Saturday evening against Eastern Washington, there aren't many quarterbacks in college football who do more damage with their legs than Demond Williams Jr.

The 5-foot-11, 200-pound third-year signal caller is averaging 6.5 yards per rush through the Huskies' first two games of the 2026 season against Washington State and Utah State. That puts Williams Jr. at No. 9 in the country in yards per carry among quarterbacks, with no other Big Ten passer close to his average.

Although the second-year starter for coach Jedd Fisch has only rushed for 117 yards on 18 carries and a touchdown, just under his pace through the first two games last fall with 21 carries for 132 yards and a score, when the offense has needed him to move the chains, Williams Jr. has more often than not delivered early in 2026.

"You're not going to stop him," EWU coach Aaron Best said of Williams. "You only hope to contain him to some degree. He's a multi-year starter. The game has slowed to him, you can tell. He keeps his eyes downfield. He's not going to tuck it and run right away when the pocket collapses. He's going to get to his second, third, fourth, and then fifth read—maybe him taking off. But they want to get the ball downfield."

Against USU, in a narrow 16-14 victory, Williams made a key 36-yard run on the final play of the third quarter that eventually led to a 26-yard Tyler Robles field goal and pushed the Huskies' lead to 13-7 with 12:55 left in the game.

On the Huskies' second drive of the game, the former Basha High School star made a pair of crucial 7-yard runs, the first of which was followed by a 22-yard completion to fourth-year wide receiver Rashid Williams, which is more what Fisch is looking for when it comes to balancing his quarterback's ability as both a runner and passer.

"Some of that stuff when he gets outside of the pocket is almost scarier than him inside the pocket, because he's just an absolute playmaker," Best said. "I don't know that you have a game plan to stop someone like that. You hope you have enough to kind of pause him a little bit, maybe not stop him at times. It's really about third-down. We've got to knock out the run and give us a chance of third-and-medium-plus in the game. If they're in third-and-short situations, they're going to be successful in those situations more often than not, and every team should be."

Through the first two games of the season, UW is tied for third in the Big Ten with Iowa and Maryland at 29 third-down attempts, but tied for No. 11 with Wisconsin at just 10 conversions on the key down. Whether it's with his arm or his legs, Williams and the Huskies' offense will have to do whatever it takes to improve holistically before hosting Minnesota next weekend to start conference play.

This article originally appeared on Huskies Wire: EWU Coach Praises Washington Football Star QB's Dual-Threat Ability

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