Youth, competition headline Washington football's tenth spring workout

Washington's tenth spring practice was a light one, and as rain sprinkled down intermittently on the east field, it ended on an even lighter note. After the Huskies shed their knee braces and lined up in separate groups, Jedd Fisch mapped out an elaborate route between the practice field and Husky Stadium for his team to run three laps to finish out practice with a mile run.

But he couldn't contain the smirk on his face for long before yelling, "three horns," to signify the end of the workout, which was met with a rousing cheer and several hugs and high fives from the players.

The Huskies were in shells, which contributed to the light practice, but Washington's young unit of defensive backs continued to stand out working under secondary coach John Richardson, who was very pleased with his group's progress, especially his trio of true freshmen: Elijah Durr, Ksani Jiles, and Jeron Jones as they battle with an equally young and talented group of wide receivers.

"Watching them mature, watching them handle their academics with academics, they're doing a phenomenal job, and being able to handle all that," Richardson said of their adjustment to the college level. "But also, when you bring in a talented group of receivers as well, like Trez Davis and those guys, man, they make plays. And so naturally, in the same recruiting class, you're not trying to get shown up.

"So that type of competition, and when they go off, and they hang out in off time, too, I'm pretty sure they talk about those things. So that's kind of accelerating the curve as well. Getting Jordan Clay out there, getting Trez, and Asa Thompson, and all those types of guys, they're coming up, and they're showing out. And then when you're able to see a guy like Dez Roebuck and things like that, they've gotta grow up fast. And those types of things have been happening to them, and we were excited about them."

The battles between Washington's corners and receivers were on full display during Tuesday's practice in a microcosm of the biggest theme of spring camp: competition on a roster with plenty of young, relatively untested talent, but with high-end potential.

Wide receiver Justice Williams and cornerback are a great example of that, as the two sophomore holdovers from Kalen DeBoer's final recruiting class have gone head-to-head several times this spring as they compete for spots on the depth chart. Williams won the battle on Tuesday, breaking away from Johnson to haul in a 25-yard touchdown from in the back right corner of the end zone.