Brock Huard’s expectations for UW Huskies: ‘An 8-win football club’

The UW Huskies kick off the second season under head coach Jedd Fisch and as a member of the Big Ten Conference Saturday night with a non-conference home matchup against the Colorado State Rams.

Season Preview: UW Huskies aim for step forward in second Big Ten season

After a 6-7 season that featured a bowl game appearance, former UW quarterback Brock Huard is optimistic about the 2025 Huskies.

“The 2025 Huskies will be better than the 2024 Huskies,” he said during this season’s first edition of Seattle Sports’ Dawg Talk with Brock Huard. “How are you going to measure that? Ultimately, it’s going to be by wins and losses. A season ago, Jedd Fisch’s first on Montlake, a 6-7 season. I think that was within expectation. This year I bump that up.”

One of the biggest reasons for optimism surrounding this year’s UW squad is the return of dual-threat sophomore quarterback Demond Williams Jr.

Williams closed his true freshman season with a dazzling five-touchdown performance in the Huskies’ narrow 35-34 Sun Bowl loss to Louisville, which came just two games after he took over in the second half and led UW to a comeback win over UCLA did gain bowl eligibility.

And Williams has plenty of weapons to work with at his disposal, including standout 6-foot-4 receiver Denzel Boston and the punishing two-headed running back tandem of Jonah Coleman and Adam Mohammed.

On top of that, UW brought in defensive coordinator Ryan Walters, who was one of the nation’s top coordinators during his time at Illinois (2021-22), to lead a defensive unit highlighted towering 6-4 cornerbacks Tacario Davis and Ephesians Prysock.

But what has really caught the eye of Huard is the difference in this year’s schedule.

Last year UW played its toughest games – Penn State, Oregon and Indiana (who finished top three in the Big Ten) – on the road. This year the Huskies’ toughest games – defending national champion Ohio State and Oregon – are both at home. That’s particularly notable since UW went 5-0 at home last season and 0-7 in road and neutral site games.

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“I think realistically this year this is an eight-win football club,” Huard said. “Could it be more than that? Yes. Is the schedule more favorable than a year ago? Yes. Are the toughest teams at home? Yes. And I think for all of those reasons, I do think this will be a better team.

“I think this can be an eight-win team. Anything above that would be a pretty special season, especially in year one (as a full-time starter) for their young quarterback.”

Hear the full conversation at this link or watch the video at the top of this story.

More on UW Huskies football

• AP Poll: UW Huskies, WSU Cougars will be starting from scratch
• Brock Huard: Why UW Huskies have a case to be a top 25 team
• Brock Huard: Four takeaways from UW Huskies fall football practice
• Jedd Fisch says UW Huskies ‘can really take that next big step’
• Joel Klatt: UW Huskies football could ‘pop’ with 9-10 wins in 2025

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