After Demond Williams Jr. was forced to leave in the second quarter of the Washington Huskies' 41-24 loss to the Iowa Hawkeyes on Friday night with a shoulder injury, Stanford transfer Elijah Brown filled in admirably.
The former four-star recruit completed 71.8 percent of his passes for 251 yards and 3 touchdowns, operating Jedd Fisch's offense with an efficiency that the Huskies haven't seen all season as they dropped to 3-3 on the year and 0-3 in Big Ten play. For Brown, it was as simple as trusting the head coach's game plan.
"Just trust in the process, trust in the coach's plans," Brown said of his. "I feel like they prepare us very well, and that's pretty much it."
Fisch echoed that sentiment in his postgame press conference, praising Brown's
ability to manage the game after the Huskies have seen Williams struggle to play in rhythm through the majority of the season.
"I felt that Elijah Brown came in in his role and did an outstanding job of managing the game, managing the offense, making really good decisions," Fisch said. "I thought at the end of the (first) half I would have liked us to throw the ball away on the sprint-out to give us a chance there to get us some points. To be able to go in there and manage the plays that he managed, I thought was outstanding."
The Stanford transfer was able to do what Fisch and Williams have been preaching throughout the season: get the ball out of his hands quickly to a group of wide receivers that have shown to be a promising unit, as sophomore Chris Lawson compiled 8 catches for 86 yards and a touchdown in the loss.
"It's just what the game plan was," Brown said. "Get it to the playmakers, and let them go make a play."
As the Huskies continue to work through Williams Jr.'s injury, Brown has proven that if he needs to step in for an extended period of time, he can operate the offense efficiently and potentially provide a much-needed spark to the offense.
This article originally appeared on Huskies Wire: Elijah Brown operated Washington Huskies offense efficiently in loss
