Jedd Fisch gives Quentin Moore injury update following UW’s season-opening win

Jedd Fisch has repeatedly said improvement is the name of the game for this Washington team. 

But what does that word, improvement, really mean? UW romped to a season-opening win against FCS-opponent Weber State late Saturday night. 

Yet there’s still plenty to fix before the next game. Fisch said he’d like to start faster on both offense and defense. He said there were some special teams issues, including a snap that bounced but was fielded by punter Jack McCallister. There were also some obvious mistakes he’d like to clean up.

“Offensively, not getting a holding call to negate a touchdown,” Fisch said. “Being able to put ourselves in a position to get some points on the opening drive would be great.” 

Fisch held media availability at Husky Stadium on Monday as Washington prepares to face Eastern Michigan for a much more reasonable 12:30 p.m. Saturday afternoon kickoff. Fisch said the Eagles, led by 11th-year coach and Roosevelt High School alum Chris Creighton, have built a recent reputation as one of the toughest Group of Five teams in the country. 

Eastern Michigan has defeated Rutgers, Purdue, Illinois and Arizona State since 2017. UW’s tight end situation may be increasingly important against a notoriously physical team like Eastern Michigan. 

Fisch said he was still waiting to talk to the medical staff about starting tight end Quentin Moore, who departed the Weber State game nursing an apparent left leg or knee injury after taking a hit during the second quarter. However, the Washington coach was optimistic about Moore’s recovery, stating he believed the Kenmore native will miss “maybe a couple weeks.”

“We’ll see if it’s week-to-week or a day-to-day thing,” Fisch said. “It’s not going to be any more than that.” 

Moore’s potential return, whether it’s against Eastern Michigan or a later opponent, is a massive boon for Fisch and the Huskies. After the sixth-year senior was helped off the field by teammates, the Huskies were left with just two scholarship tight ends: senior Keleki Latu and freshman Decker DeGraaf. 

Washington entered the season with five scholarship tight ends. However, freshman Charlie Crowell suffered a season-ending knee injury in a “fluky play” and will be out for about nine months, Fisch said Monday. Crowell initially appeared on the availability report before the Weber State game. 

“We always tell our guys when you get an upper body injury, you should be able to strengthen your lower body, get in great shape,” Fisch said. “When you’ve got a lower-body injury, you should come back stronger than ever. This is an opportunity for him to get his upper body nice and strong … to redshirt and get better and learn the offense so when it’s his time, he won’t miss a beat.”

Sophomore Ryan Otton was injured throughout fall camp. The former blue-chip prospect from Tumwater has played in two games since arriving at Washington before the 2022 season. Fisch said Otton is about three weeks away from returning to practice. 

If Moore is unavailable, Fisch said Owen Coutts, a 6-foot-4, 230-pound walk-on tight end from Ballard High School, will be the Huskies’ third tight end behind Latu and DeGraaf. Coutts, a standout sprinter in high school, was dealing with a hamstring injury during fall camp but is now 100% healthy, Fisch said.  

The Washington coach said he feels comfortable with the tight ends at his disposal, whether Moore is available or not. Fisch singled out Latu as one of the players who impressed against Weber State. The Nevada transfer didn’t have a catch or a target, but had a strong blocking performance despite being recruited more for his pass-catching abilities. 

Fisch was also happy with DeGraaf’s development. He said there were a few more opportunities to get the freshman the ball that the quarterbacks simply missed, or chose other options, and said it will be exciting to watch DeGraaf continue to grow.

“As training camp was progressing, there were more and more pass plays we were incorporating him on, and he continued to thrive in that area,” Fisch said. “I just felt really good about giving him a shot on the play we called.”

Extra points:

• Fisch said junior edge rusher Russell Davis II is on a similar recovery timeline as Otton. The Arizona transfer was injured for almost all of fall camp but Fisch threw out the Michigan game on Oct. 5 as a potential timeline for Davis’ return. 
• The Washington coach said it was always part of the game plan to rotate the offensive line against Weber State. Fisch and offensive line coach Brennan Carroll wanted the five starters — left tackle Soane Faasolo, left guard Gaard Memmelaar, center D’Angalo Titialii, right guard Enokk Vimahi and right tackle Drew Azzopardi — along with guard Landen Hatchett and tackle Kahlee Tafai to get repetitions.