During his time with the Arizona Wildcats, wide receivers coach Kevin Cummings was one of the best position coaches in the Pac-12. Once he made the move to Washington, he knew he had big shoes to fill replacing JaMarcus Shephard, who followed coach Kalen DeBoer to Alabama.
When Cummings met with members of the media after Thursday’s spring practice, he acknowledged his relationship with Shephard and that he had been showing his players film of UW’s receivers over the past two seasons.
“Our receivers always watched Washington’s receivers and their receivers always [watched Arizona’s film],” Cummings said. “I know I’ve got some shoes to fill, but we’ve produced at a high level everywhere I’ve been with Coach [Jedd] Fisch, so I know we can keep that going.”
Through eight practices, his teachings have certainly been effective with Washington’s two top receivers, sophomore Denzel Boston and California transfer Jeremiah Hunter. Boston has been far and away the best player on the field through the Huskies’ spring workouts and while there’s a sizable gap between the two, Hunter has earned the No. 2 spot among Washington’s standouts.
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Cummings has taken a similar approach to his predecessor, that his receivers are embracing, outside of one trait that was unique to Shephard.
“Coach Shephard was more on the loud side,” senior Giles Jackson said. “Coach Cummings is really cool, he’s more laid back but he’ll get on you. They’re both really good coaches.”
Cummings also picked up where Shephard left off on the recruiting trail, earning a commitment from four-star receiver Raiden Vines-Bright in the 2025 class, and is pushing hard to add at least two other blue-chip recruits.
It appears that Cummings is settling into the shoes of his new role rather nicely. Or rather, his cleats. During every practice, Washington’s wide receivers coach can be seen taking a hands-on approach with his players and said that he’s more comfortable doing that in cleats.
“I’ve found that the cleats are a lot more comfortable than shoes,” he said. “I get to run around a little bit and feel good about it, but the main thing is that they’re comfortable.”
As he continues to get more comfortable in his new role, Cummings could end up as one of the best wide receivers coaches in the Big Ten going forward.