Myles Gaskin is the Thunder; UW Has Lightning in Three Different Forms
SEATTLE – Myles Gaskin finished the 2017 season one touchdown short from matching the combined amount of scores he had in his first two years at Washington.
The former O’Dea High School product has reached the 1,000-yard mark each season, scored at minimum 10 TD’s out of the backfield and, literally, ran with the metaphorical torch passed down by by UW running backs, Bishop Sankey and Chris Polk.
With the only exception in 2014, Chris Petersen’s first season as head coach, at least one player has reached the mark in seven of the last eight seasons dating back to 2009, when Polk rushed for 1,113 yards and set the annual 1k bar.
Entering year five, and Keith Bhonapha one of only five coaches remaining from the original staff, the question isn’t who, but how will the Huskies balance the amount of carries amongst the stable of talent in the room.
With Lavon Coleman graduated and awaiting his fate in the upcoming 2018 NFL Draft on April 26-28, behind Gaskin this fall sits a trio of sophomores: Sean McGrew, Salvon Ahmed and Kamari Pleasant.
Gaskin has proven his thunderous power, the latter three all lightning that Bhonapha holds the power to choose when they strike.
“I like that one. Thunder and which lightning do you choose to strike,” he said, adding a smile and light-hearted laugh when repeating the question asked of the trio. “Obviously, with the style that Salvon has and the style that Myles has, and the ability to put their foot in the ground and get vertical at the drop of a time is something that has been really good to see this spring.”
McGrew, a four-star RB from St. John Bosco (Bellflower, Calif.), and Pleasant, a three-star athlete who flipped his commitment from Arizona State to UW late in the recruiting process, both signed in 2016.
Ahmed, a four-star recruit from Juanita High School (Kirkland, Wash.), continued the tradition of elite in-state backs to sign with the Huskies in 2017, when he chose UW over Notre Dame, Oregon, Stanford and his other 15 scholarships.
However, with McGrew, the progression from year one and now heading into year three has been on full display this spring.
“I don’t want to count this guy out at all, but watching Sean progress I think he has a place to get the ball and get a chance to get vertical with the football,” Bhonapha added.
“So, between those three guys, when you’re talking about actual carries and running the ball, I think we have something special brewing as we go into fall camp. We just have to keep progression.”