After losing seven players to the 2026 NFL draft, there were plenty of holes to fill across the Washington Huskies' roster. Most programs would turn to the portal, replace the high-quality talent with experienced players, and welcome the plug-and-play mentality that so many teams across the country do.
That isn't the case for Jedd Fisch, who is currently starting four true freshmen, with many more in the rotation, on both sides of the ball.
On offense, the Huskies lost three starters to the draft: wide receiver Denzel Boston, running back Jonah Coleman, and left tackle Carver Willis. On the other side of the ball, starting cornerback Tacario Davis was a Day Two selection, while his running mate Ephesians Prysock was taken in the fourth round,
and defensive linemen Anterio Thompson and Zach Durfee were selected in the sixth and seventh rounds, respectively.
With that much talent leaving the program, Fisch turned to promising young returners, the best recruiting class in program history, and only a few transfers to help make up for it. Despite the incoming talent that helped the Huskies be deemed a "dark horse" in the Big Ten throughout the offseason, many of those key replacements have found themselves on the injury report, hindering Washington in the first four weeks of the season.
On Monday, Fisch wasn't afraid to face that fact.
"I think Denzel Boston is right now leading all rookie receivers; we replaced him with a player that got hurt and out for the season the first play of the game (Christian Moss). I think Jonah Coleman was playing exceptionally well and just finished playing at the highest level; we replaced him with a guy who, in the first game, got knocked out (Quaid Carr), we replaced him with a guy who got knocked out (Jayden Limar)."
"We're working through a lot. Our left tackle got drafted in the fourth round; now (we're) sitting in a spot where we're playing with a true freshman (Kodi Greene), and our center, who we expected to be a starter (Landen Hatchett). I know we thought we were going to have four of five returning starters back on the o-line, but we haven't."
Outside of the injuries to Moss and the two running backs, the other production has been replaced with either true freshmen or sophomores. The likes of Derek-Colman Brusa, Ramzak Fruean, and Jeron Jones have performed up to, if not above, expectations on defense, while the receiving corps is made up almost entirely of underclassmen such as Dezmen Roebuck, Chris Lawson, Jordan Clay, and Trez Davis.
In the midst of his third season, the head coach has made it clear that recruiting and developing high school talent is his preferred way of building a program. With the Huskies now entering a make-or-break stretch of their season over the course of the next two weeks, only time will tell how Fisch's strategy pays off for the future of the program.
This article originally appeared on Huskies Wire: Jedd Fisch points out the loss of NFL talent amidst sluggish start
