The Washington Huskies put a lot of faith in former five-star recruit Kodi Greene heading into his first year of college football, naming him the starting left tackle after a strong spring and fall camp.
During his debut in the Apple Cup, the Washington State Cougars attacked him with power early in the contest, which led to a few pressures on quarterback Demond Williams Jr. as he quickly learned about the differences in play strength between high school and college. After taking every snap for the Huskies in the first two weeks of the season, Jedd Fisch rotated Greene at the position with left guard John Mills against Eastern Washington to alleviate some pressure on the true freshman.
According to Fisch, that plan worked well, as the head coach
said Greene had his best game yet in the Huskies' 48-16 win over the Eagles.
"I would say comfort level of his pass sets and also trust in his double teams," Fisch said when asked where Greene has improved the most. "When you're playing tackle, you're asked to have a lot of combination blocks with the guard, and the more trust you have that the guard's going to be there, or how square you should stay, or that somebody's coming on the back side to be able to take care of the overhang to your side, the better you'll play."
"They say if you try to see a lot, you see a little. I think sometimes when you're out there, you're looking around and trying to look for all these different things when you really can just focus in on your own assignment. It felt like this past week, this past game, he focused in on his own assignment the best that he's done, and I think what that did, it allowed him to be more and more confident. The more confident he was, the more comfortable he was in both the run and pass."
Getting Greene confident ahead of Big Ten play is critical for the success of Washington's offense, as the Huskies will open conference action against Minnesota, whose defense is led by edge rusher Anthony Smith, a potential first-round selection in the 2027 NFL draft.
"Game three, he played with a different kind of confidence," offensive line coach Michael Switzer added on Tuesday. "It doesn't matter who you're playing, but I think he went out there with a different kind of mindset. I think he practiced differently all last week, which was great to see from him. So, carrying that over into Big Ten play is something that's usually important, and I think that's what really stood out is his overall confidence. The intention of how you practice in a given week and go out and perform is something that stood out to me about Kodi."
This article originally appeared on Huskies Wire: LT Kodi Greene showed growth for Washington football against EWU
