Upside or Efficiency? Huskies Have Interesting QB Dilemma With Demond Williams Jr., Elijah Brown
Expectations couldn't have been much higher for Demond Williams Jr. going into his third season. But before he suffered an injury against Iowa, the junior quarterback struggled, and the Huskies have looked far better with his backup Elijah Brown under center. Who should start once Williams returns?
Entering the 2026 season, the Washington Huskies were set to start Demond Williams Jr. in his third year with the program.
Coming off a strong nine-win season the year before, even after briefly attempting to flee Washington and go to another program in the transfer portal, Williams was anointed a dark horse Heisman Trophy candidate by local and national pundits alike. With him back under center, talk about UW being a College Football Playoff wild card emerged as well.
Williams' season-long statistics look surprisingly good: 1,396 passing yards, a 66.7% completion rate, eight touchdown passes and three interceptions. He has also added 183 rushing yards and two rushing touchdowns.
Statistics do not lie, but they can fail to tell the full story. When focusing on Washington's Big Ten conference games against Minnesota, USC, and Iowa, the picture becomes much clearer. Against those three Big Ten opponents, Williams totaled just 506 passing yards, a 60% completion rate, and an even 3-to-3 touchdown-to-turnover ratio. Even more alarming, he was sacked 16 times, regularly holding onto the ball far too long.
Williams sustained a rib injury just before the two-minute warning against Iowa, meaning he took those 16 sacks in only five halves of football. That is a major problem for a Huskies offense that lacks the explosive playmakers it had last season in Denzel Boston and Jonah Coleman, who each were selected in the 2026 NFL Draft.
Enter in Elijah Brown, the transfer from Stanford, who has performed remarkably well despite statistics that are not overwhelmingly positive in two games subbing in for Williams.
