Washington quarterback Demond Williams Jr. faces a doubtful return for Friday night’s game at Purdue as the Huskies try to end a three-game skid following a significant rib injury sustained against Iowa.
Williams sustained a significant rib injury late in the first half of last Friday’s 41-24 Big Ten home loss to then-No. 20 Iowa.
Huskies coach Jedd Fisch initially labeled Williams day-to-day before acknowledging a lack of confidence in the signal-caller’s availability for Friday. Williams carries a streak of 20 straight starts dating back to the final game of the 2024 regular season.
We still have to do all sorts of imaging and everything else. So I’m not under the impression he’ll be playing this week based upon where he’s at physically, but I don’t want to predict the future either.
Jedd Fisch, Washington coach
When Williams exited late in the second quarter, Washington faced a 27-0 deficit. Stanford transfer Elijah Brown took over after halftime, completing 28 of 39 passes for 251 yards and three touchdowns to narrow the margin. Despite calls from Seattle fans for a permanent quarterback change, Fisch dismissed the idea of disrupting the roster.
The last thing I want to do is put added pressure on Elijah or added pressure on Demond. Right now, that’s not going to benefit anybody. Elijah needs to go out there and play the best Elijah football he can play. And Demond needs to go out there and do everything he can to try and get out there this Friday night or whatever the next game is he can play.
Jedd Fisch, Washington coach
Purdue rebounded from losses to UCLA and Notre Dame with a 24-17 victory at Illinois and a 41-13 home win against Minnesota. Minnesota handed Washington a 27-24 defeat in Seattle on September 26 to ignite the Huskies’ current slide.
Purdue running back Fame Ijeboi earned Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week honors after rushing for 195 yards and three touchdowns on 31 carries against his former school, Minnesota. Meanwhile, Boilermakers quarterback Ryan Browne has completed 68.9% of his passes for 1,549 yards, throwing nine touchdowns and one interception this season. A win Friday would secure Purdue’s first three-game conference winning streak since 2022.
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