Anonymous Big Ten coach sees Washington as a potential most-improved team in 2025

Washington went through the decline of losing much of what made them a national championship-contending team, including their head coach, last season. Now, in Year Two under head coach Jedd Fisch, the Huskies could be in position to return to form.

Athlon Sports’ preview magazine shared anonymous quotes from coaches around the Big Ten. With that, one said that, depending on how quarterback Demond Williams Jr. plays in his first season as a starter, Washington could make their case as a most-improved team in the conference this fall.

“If the quarterback continues to develop, I think they’re a most-improved candidate this year,” the anonymous Big Ten coach told Athlon.

If the Huskies improve, offense is going to be where it starts based off last year when they scored just 23.4 points, 104th in the country. 2024 QB Will Rogers has been replaced by Williams, who completed 78.1% of his throws for 944 yards, eight touchdowns, and one interception while rushing for 282 yards and two scores. Add in the weapons around him, though, and an offensive line that’ll need to be better and the Huskies’ offense should be better than one being outside the Top-100

“The quarterback seems to be a rising star even without a ton of reps, and they have legit weapons at wide receiver,” another Big Ten coach told Athlon.

“Their biggest problem was the offensive line; that situation is how a coaching change and heavy portal can break bad on you,” a third anonymous coach told Athlon. “That group was truly bad last year.”

As a whole, Washington is also going in the right direction based on their recruiting efforts under Fisch. That’s with him bringing in 46 commitments, with an incoming Top-25 class in 2025 and a Top-20 class currently in 2026 per On3’s Industry Team Recruiting Rankings, from high school so far – without mentioning a pair of Top-20 portal classes brought in so far per On3’s Team Transfer Portal Rankings.

“Keep an eye on them in high school recruiting. They’re starting to notch some big wins and go head-to-head with Oregon,” another Big Ten coach said. “I think they’re a little bit ahead of the build that Fisch had at Arizona because the floor was a little higher at UW, even with the portal losses after Kalen (DeBoer).”

That all said, Washington went .500 in the regular season last year before a one-point loss in their bowl game gave them their losing record. That leaves plenty of growth for a program that contended for the national title two years ago and, although they might not do so again this year, should be better to some extent in 2025.

“They’re not a contender yet, but they’re going to be better across the board this year,” one said.