2023 'Shadow' Not a Concern for Huskies' Jedd Fisch

No matter the sport, one of the toughest acts to follow is if your predecessor was successful. In the case of new Washington coach Jedd Fisch, his situation is even tougher after the Huskies finished last season with a 34-13 loss to the Michigan Wolverines in the College Football Playoff National Championship game.

If that wasn’t enough on Fisch’s plate, the Huskies saw 10 starters get drafted in the 2024 NFL Draft, including three first-round picks in quarterback Michael Penix Jr., wide receiver Rome Odunze and offensive tackle Troy Fautanu. The shadow cast by his predecessor, Kalen DeBoer, also includes some hard feelings from the Washington base. DeBoer jettisoned Washington days after the national championship to succeed Nick Saban after his abrupt retirement from Alabama. 

While the hard feelings exist for many Huskies, what cannot be disputed is that in just two years in Seattle, DeBoer took the Washington program to heights it had not seen in the 21st century. DoBeor's 2023 team now sits in the record books next to Don James' iconic 1984 and 1991 teams that brought Washington to the pinnacle of college football.

Fisch Addresses the 'Shadow'

As Fisch approached the podium on the final day at Big Ten Media Days on July 25 in Indianapolis, he didn’t let the shadow of DeBoer or the situation rattle him. 

If anything Fisch was more matter of fact of the situation.

“We have to build on all of that success with a brand-new team, something that's never been done before in college football," Fisch said. "We will have 46 new scholarship athletes on a team that competed in the national championship. We'll have an entire new coaching staff, an entire new training staff, an entire new strength staff, an entire new nutrition staff and 21 of 22 new starters on Aug. 31. That has never been done before, and we're excited about that challenge.”

Fisch’s Previous Challenge

Fisch’s confidence was on display in Indianapolis about the situation he inherited at Washington. One of Fisch's biggest talking points was about staff continuity as he mentioned he brought his entire offensive staff from Arizona that was together for the rebuild they orchestrated in Tucson.

When Fisch arrived at Arizona, the program had hit rock bottom during Kevin Sumlin-era where the program lost 7 games in a row to end the 2019 season and went winless during the 2020 COVID pandemic season.

Fisch won only one game in 2021, but in the next two seasons, he restored pride in Arizona football and led the Wildcats to 10 wins a season ago and a win in the Alamo Bowl against Oklahoma. The program’s first bowl win since the 2015 New Mexico Bowl.

Replacing Penix

When DeBoer arrived in Washington, he leveraged the Transfer Portal to bring in Penix, and the rest became history. 

Fisch, in his attempt, didn’t deviate from the script. He too went to the portal and brought in former Mississippi State quarterback Will Rogers. Rogers has had somewhat of a vagabond collegiate career when it comes to the various offenses he has played in during his 40 career starts.

He has played in Mike Leach’s Air Raid to a pro-style offense Zach Arnett leveraged last season that heavily utilized tight ends. Fisch’s offense is a variant of the spread offense. Last season, Arizona quarterback Noah Fifita, wide receivers Tetairoa McMillan and Jacob Cowings optimally executed Fisch’s offense to 34.6 points per game, ranking in the top 20 in scoring offense, passing offense and total offense. 

Fisch said Rogers brings great leadership to the Huskies.

“He has a great ability to communicate the game of football," Fisch said. "What we've asked our quarterbacks to do in years past is control the line of scrimmage, and I think he'll be really good at that as well.”

Fisch’s Current Challenge

A bevy of talent that left Washington last year, but Fisch is ready to put his stamp on the Washington program by building his own culture.

“I would say the biggest challenge, of course, is you're taking over a program where coach DeBoer did such a fantastic job in a short period of time with a veteran team," he said. "Those guys were old. We had 13 of those guys playing in the NFL right now. So we had to build a culture with a bunch of guys that have never really started or played in games together that were very meaningful. We had to teach them what we would expect on a daily basis. They've embraced it. They've worked extremely hard together. They found a way to really open up their arms and embrace all the different type of players we brought in from all the different communities. So our culture is that. It's a culture of belonging. It's a culture of inclusiveness, and it's a culture of wanting to make sure that, if we act and behave in a certain manner, that we understand that we can have a lot of fun competing.”

As the Huskies embrace an underdog role this season, one may ask what are reasonable expectations. Fisch didn’t give out a win number, but he left the stage sending a notice that the Huskies won’t be an easy out for anyone this season.

“For us, I want our team to be the hardest opponent that everybody plays," Fisch said. "I want our opponents to feel like they left that game and they played two games in a row. So our expectation is that we're going to be the toughest team that they play every week, and then from there we'll see, we'll let the score take care of itself.”

Washington opens its season at home against Weber State on Aug. 31 and will make its Big Ten Conference debut at home against Northwestern on Sept. 21.