UW Football Coach Jedd Fisch Sets Summer Date For RB Injury Decision

Washington Huskies head coach Jedd Fisch said after the Huskies' Dawgs After Dark spring game on Friday that the staff is targeting late July for a decision on redshirt sophomore Jordan Washington.

The 5-foot-10, 180-pound California native suffered a serious injury during UW's second week of spring camp that has since left him in a neck brace. A four-star recruit out of Long Beach Jordan High School in the 2024 class, the third-year back was immediately responsive and moving his extremities when taken to a local hospital straight from practice after he suffered the injury, per a school official, but hasn't returned to practice and attended the spring game in street clothes with a neck brace.

"No update. Everything is on schedule that somewhere in probably around July 1, we'll make a decision," Fisch said after Friday's spring game when asked for an update on Washington's status. "Not we as in me. But we, as in the medical staff, the physicians—both in this building and outside consultants—will make a decision on what his return to play protocol looks like. Right now, the key is for him to do what he's doing, and he's doing it well."

Coming into this spring, only two running backs had taken snaps in 2025: Washington and redshirt freshman Quaid Carr. Both veteran transfer additions at the position, Trey Cooley and Jayden Limar, were already ruled out for the spring, which led to an opportunity for the other younger running backs to get snaps, but also a thin playbook.

In his first full season at UW last year, the speedy running back made 10 appearances for Fisch behind senior starter Jonah Coleman and sophomore backup Adam Mohammed. Washington's best game of the season unquestionably came against Purdue in early November, a 108-yard performance that featured a 68-yard touchdown run, in a 49-13 win for the Huskies.

If the determination is that it's unlikely the third-year sophomore will be able to suit up before mid-October, it could be that Washington will be given a medical redshirt for the 2026 season and just have him wait a full year to return—the potentially most optimal choice given both Cooley and Limar have one season of eligibility left this coming fall.

However, given that both seniors are coming off injuries of their own, and both true freshman Brian Bonner and Carr are yet to start a game for the Huskies in their respective careers, the position can use all the available bodies it can get on Saturdays.

Should the evaluation by the start of July reveal that the Long Beach, California native is full-go by the start of the season or within the first two weeks, then it would be worth letting whatever return to play protocol that's necessary for that to come to fruition.