Second-Year Wide Receiver Next Man up For Washington Huskies

SEATTLE — The Washington Huskies football team got through its first game of the season successfully, coming out 24-10 in the 118th Apple Cup against cross-state rivals, the Washington State Cougars.

Unfortunately, the win didn't come without losses for the Huskies on the players side.

The top two running backs on the depth chart, second-year Quaid Carr and fourth-year Jayden Limar, will both miss significant time this season due to injuries suffered in the Apple Cup. Carr is set to undergo surgery.

Washington also suffered another injury during Sunday's game. Starting receiver, sixth-year Christian Moss, exited the game after the first drive due to what head coach Jedd Fisch confirmed in a news conference Monday as a soft-tissue injury. Moss, who transferred to UW from Kennesaw State, missed all of spring practice due to a soft-tissue injury, as well. Fisch was unable to confirm if it was the same injury that plagued Moss in the spring and wasn't able to offer specifics on his ailment.

Moss' injury opens the door for a second-year wide receiver to step into a starting role, which he seems more than prepared for.

With Moss out, second-year wideout Chris Lawson will step into the starting "X" role and will likely move all along the offense due to his ability to play all three receiver spots in Fisch's offense.

Lawson stepped in for Moss in Sunday's win and led the team in receiving yards. He finished with four catches for a game-high 87 yards.

"It certainly allows Chris Lawson to play significantly," Fisch said in his Monday news conference. " ... Chris deserves the starting role as the "X." It would be him unless it wasn't based on practice."

Fisch said that true freshman wide receiver Jordan Clay and third-year wideout Justice Williams will also get more opportunities with Moss out of action.

Lawson has been one of the team's top performers of the offseason and has made significant strides in his second year with the program. Last year, in his true freshman season, he reeled in 10 catches for 115 yards in eight games.

Third-year quarterback Demond Williams Jr. and the offense as a whole looked significantly better in the second half Sunday than it did in the first, and a large part of that was due to Lawson's performance in the final 30 minutes of the game. And the team will hope that that trend continues in the second game of the season against the Utah State Aggies at 12:30 p.m. PT on Saturday at Husky Stadium.