Elijah Brown 'In Consideration' For Starting Quarterback Job

SEATTLE — The Washington Huskies football team saw a change at the quarterback position in its last game, which helped result in UW's first Big Ten win this season.

Third-year quarterback Elijah Brown led the Huskies to a 38-26 win over the Purdue Boilermakers on Oct. 16. He started in place of fellow third-year signal-caller Demond Williams Jr., who was out nursing a rib injury he suffered in the team's 41-24 loss to the Iowa Hawkeyes on Oct. 9.

Brown transferred to Washington from the Stanford Cardinal this offseason and did well in his first start in the Pacific Northwest. He went 21-for-27 for 302 yards, three touchdowns and three interceptions.

The Huskies will have a bye week this week before heading on the road to play the Nebraska Cornhuskers at 5 p.m. PT on Oct. 31 (Halloween) in Lincoln, Neb.

Williams is cleared to practice this week but his game availability is still uncertain. If he is cleared, he and Brown will be competing for the starting role for the game against Nebraska.

"(Brown) did enough to be considered (as the starter)," Washington head coach Jedd Fisch said in a weekly news conference Monday. "And we'll see how Demond does this week physically and medically and we'll make a decision here, probably in a week or so how we want to proceed. But I certainly believe in the six quarters that he's played, (Brown) has certainly earned consideration."

Williams and Brown will split first-team reps in practice this week, which is set to be full-speed and full-contact Monday and Tuesday.

Brown has appeared in three games this season, including his aforementioned start. In addition to his start against Purdue, Brown played in garbage time in the team's 48-16 win against the Eastern Washington Eagles on Sept. 19, for the second half plus two drives in the team's loss against Iowa.

Across those three games, Brown has completed 73.9% of his passes for 578 yards, seven touchdowns and three interceptions.

Before Williams went down with his injury, he completed 66.7% of his passes for 1,396 yards, eight touchdowns and three picks. He also ran 64 times for 183 yards and two touchdowns.

With Brown as the starting quarterback, UW was able to win its first Big Ten win and scored more than 24 points against a Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) opponent, both for the first time this season.

Williams was brought back to the team on a deal rumored to be worth upwards of $4.5 million. He was announced to have signed to return to the Huskies after a season where he led the Big Ten in total yardage (3,676 yards), but announced his intention to enter the transfer portal soon after. He reversed his decision two days later and returned to the team as the apparent starter.

Fisch didn't call it a "competition" and stayed with the coaching staff's tagline that every position is a competition. But by all intents and purposes, it will be that assuming Williams is cleared for the team's next game.

And it seems that both quarterbacks are taking the competition in stride.

"I thought on game day, watching the TV copy back, (what stood out) was how engaged (Williams) was with Elijah," Fisch said. "I never felt, at any point in time, there was any pause or hesitancy in terms of being a fantastic teammate."