Jedd Fisch injects fun into Washington’s spring game

Jedd Fisch added some new touches to his first spring game as Washington’s head coach.

The Washington Huskies played their spring game on Friday night and after nearly a month of marketing, the event was certainly a success for coach Jedd Fisch and his staff.

While the game didn’t necessarily reveal anything new about the roster, as the offensive line struggled for most of the game and wide receiver Denzel Boston continued his dominant spring, Fisch unveiled a few new events to the crowd.

The players and a notably improved crowd from previous years, an unofficial attendance of 18,500 was given in the press box, got a show that started before the game even kicked off.

Washington’s men’s and women’s basketball coaches Danny Sprinkle and Tina Langley participated in a “tip-off” in place of a coin flip to open the game as honorary captains Jake Locker, Lincoln Kennedy, Marcus Peters, and Danny Shelton looked on.

Throughout the game, Fisch got coaches of other sports involved. In the second quarter, men’s and women’s soccer coaches Jamie Clark and Nicole Van Dyke each attempted a 25-yard field goal to earn points for their respective teams. Van Dyke nailed her try, which had plenty of distance, and collected 3 points for the Gold team.

In the third quarter, Fisch called on Boston and linebacker Carson Bruener to attempt the same kick, with Bruener prevailing to give the Gold team 3 more points. His kick also had plenty of distance and looked like it would have been good from 40 yards out.

Later in the third, Bruener hit the field with the Gold team’s offense and took a pitch on an end-around before finding running back Jonah Coleman streaking up the sideline for a 43-yard gain on a play that surprised his head coach.

Fisch was asked after the game when he learned about Bruener’s arm and the head coach gave a simple answer. “Tonight whenever that pass was thrown,” he said. “I didn’t know he could kick either. But I didn’t know they had the double pass in them, they didn’t run that up the flagpole.”

In fact, that play was installed by wide receivers coach Kevin Cummings.

“Coach Cummings asked everyone on the Gold team who could throw, and we all responded with ‘Bruener,'” Coleman said after the game. “The throw was actually supposed to go to [quarterback] Demond Williams, but I told Carson, ‘if all else fails, just look back, I’ll be open.'”

But fans shouldn’t expect to see that play this fall. Nor should they expect to see either of defensive tackle Sebastian Valdez or offensive tackle Soane Faasolo returning punts, but that was the final event of the evening. Both linemen were called upon to catch a punt for their respective teams in the fourth quarter, and both responded with solid grabs.

While the Huskies have more than a few things to sort out before they take the field for their first game of the season against Weber State on August 31, Fisch has certainly brought the right energy to Montlake after a tumultuous few months.

“We need to make the spring game to be more of a party atmosphere,” Fisch said. “We want to really enjoy ourselves out there, that’s what the whole idea.”