Jedd Fisch credits Washington centers for performance in spring practice

The Washington Huskies wrapped up their first spring under new head coach Jedd Fisch, and there was plenty to be excited about. Before the Huskies headed off for summer vacation, their headman discussed the improvement he’s seen from his team from practice one to practice No. 15. While addressing the press, Fisch tipped his hat to the Huskies centers for their performance and improvement throughout the spring.

“Well, the guys that never get any credit are the centers,” said Fisch in the Huskies’ post-spring game press conference. That first practice we had a lot of balls on the ground. And we had no one that’s ever played center play center all spring; if you snapped it in high school or you snapped it in 8th grade, we were playing center and lining up against some pretty good defensive linemen.

“So Parker Cross, Michael Watkins, (and) Zack Henning jumping in there — those three guys were not centers when they walked in the door. The balls were on the ground a lot early, and I was a little nervous about spring ball, but they did a great job. I saw a huge improvement there.”

Most of the time, the development along the offensive line goes relatively unacknowledged. However, Fisch is ensuring that he earns the trust and respect of the players in his new program by acknowledging the growth of everyone, not just skill position players.

Fisch details what he has learned about his Washington team since arriving

Fisch also assessed his new team and detailed what he’s learned about the Huskies since he arrived with the program.

“I think we’ve learned that they like to compete and they understand how to act like pros,” Jedd Fisch said. “They enjoy doing things right and they enjoy doing things the hard way. That’s a credit to who was recruited here. That’s a credit to the guys that came here with us. The players that want to be here, they like to work really hard and have long practices, they like to tackle and they like to be physical and love the game of football.”

Prior to coming to Washington, Jedd Fisch took over a struggling Arizona program and rebuilt the Wildcats into a force to be reckoned with, going 10-3 during the 2023 season. Now, he’s looking to take an already successful Washington program to the next level.

“So, I’ve learned if you surround yourself with people like that, you have a great chance,” Fisch said. “On top of that, they’ve got good football acumen…We’re going to use these next, whatever it is, May, June, July, August. We got four months to see how good we can get and we’re going to challenge our team to do that.”