Despite being just two weeks into the season, the Washington Huskies are already without two of their featured running backs: sophomore Quaid Carr and Oregon transfer Jayden Limar. Carr left the game with a hand injury and is expected to miss most of the season, while Limar may return sooner after suffering an elbow injury on the last drive against Washington State.
That's the bad news for Jedd Fisch. The good news? The backfield may get some reinforcements sooner than expected, as third-year running back Jordan Washington recently received good news regarding his rehab. The speedy back suffered a scary-looking neck injury during spring camp, forcing him to miss the entirety of offseason training.
"I am more optimistic based upon the way his rehab
has gone," Fisch said in Thursday's press conference. "He's gotten a lot stronger; he's stronger than he was before he got hurt. With all of his weight room metrics, all of those numbers. His speed is the same. The thing that we have to look at is cleared for contact."
Jordan Washington going through light warmups for the first time since his spring injury. pic.twitter.com/UEElqSKnxi
— Christian Caple (@ChristianCaple) August 26, 2026
In his sophomore season, Washington took 27 carries for 233 yards and a touchdown as the third-string back behind Jonah Coleman and Adam Mohammed. The second-year player showcased flashes of high-end speed, most notably exploding for 108 yards and a touchdown on 5 carries against Purdue last November. With Coleman taking off for the NFL and Mohammed transferring to California, the incoming junior was set to be one of the lead backs in the Husky offense before getting injured last spring.
Now, he's aiming to make a midseason return to bring some much-needed experience to the room.
Although the Huskies have the bodies to still have a healthy rotation, most of them are inexperienced. Outside of freshmen Brian Bonner Jr. and Ansu Sanoe, the only true veteran in the room is sixth-year senior Trey Cooley. However, the Troy transfer missed all of last season with a knee injury and only played in three games the year before. Although the 24-year-old is the oldest in the room, he has no more experience in Fisch's system than Bonner and Sanoe.
Before the season started, it was already expected that the Washington backfield would feature a running back-by-committee approach. Now down their top two backs, the Huskies are reliant on their depth more than ever, including holding out hope that Jordan Washington can add another element to the rotation at some point this season.
This article originally appeared on Huskies Wire: Jedd Fisch Shares Optimism On Return of RB Jordan Washington
