The Washington Huskies football team is well-regarded despite losing several statistical leaders from a season ago.

The Huskies lost leading receiver Denzel Boston and leading rusher Jonah Coleman to the NFL Draft. Boston was drafted by the Cleveland Browns in the second round and Coleman was a fourth-round selection by the Denver Broncos.

Despite the offensive leaders who have departed the team for the professional pastures this offseason, Washington is still well-regarded going into next season. Several publications have UW ranked within respective top 25 polls despite Boston and Coleman no longer being on the team.

A large part of these high expectations is due to the anticipation of Demond Williams Jr.'s junior season.

In his first year as a full-time starter in his sophomore season, Williams led the Big Ten in total yardage (3,676 yards).

Williams will be in position to take a step forward despite Boston and Coleman no longer being the team. A part of that route to improvement is the fact that four-of-five starters on the offensive line from last season are set to return this year.

One of the offensive linemen returning includes 2025 All-Freshman guard John Mills.

Boston may no longer be with the program, but Williams still has a returning weapon to the team that can emerge as the Huskies' No. 1 receiver last season.

True sophomore wide receiver was second on the team in receiving yards last season in his true freshman year. He reeled in 42 catches for 560 yards (13.3 yards per catch) and seven touchdowns.

Rather than keep him on the outside in his second season in Montlake, Washington's coaching staff made the decision to move the 5-foot-11, 184-pound pass-catcher to the slot and that's yielded solid results so far.

Roebuck was Williams' go-to target in spring practice. The second-year wide receiver was arguably the team's best route-runner in the spring, often finding the open holes in a Huskies defense that won more days between the starters than not.

Beyond just finding the open spots in the defense, Roebuck was also able to work well with Williams when the latter had to improvise.

Due to Williams' ability to run and extend plays, there were several plays that broke down that forced him and the wide receivers to go off-script.

Often times, Roebuck was the beneficiary of Williams' pass attempts on such broken plays. 

The outside receiver positions are still up in the air due to the several wide receivers missing time in spring. That fact, plus Roebuck's year with Williams and the former playing the entire spring, sets the Marana, Ariz., native up to be the junior quarterback's No. 1 target.

And based on the wide receiver's showing the spring, he's prepared to be exactly that.

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