Japanese Michigan coach returns house to face Washington

There shall be a number of sentimentality for Japanese Michigan coach Chris Creighton in Saturday afternoon’s sport at Washington, the defending nationwide runner-up.

Creighton grew up in Seattle and performed quarterback at Roosevelt Excessive Faculty, so it is going to be a homecoming for him.

In his eleventh season at Japanese Michigan, Creighton mentioned he has by no means returned to the realm as a head coach, so this shall be a brand new expertise for him as he relives some childhood reminiscences.

“I went to Husky video games as a child,” Creighton mentioned. “We truly had been shut sufficient the place I received sweatbands and soiled socks from guys as they had been leaving the locker room. I assumed I used to be hitting the treasure chest.”

Creighton hopes his return house will lead to a win towards a Washington staff that did not expertise any slip-ups final week in its season opener.

In its first sport underneath first-year head coach Jedd Fisch and a number of new faces who transferred into or signed with this system as freshmen, Washington earned a 35-3 house win over Weber State.

Fisch mentioned he’ll proceed to throw youthful gamers into the combination after taking part in 9 of the 18 true freshmen on his roster final week.

“We do not actually discuss an excessive amount of about redshirting,” Fisch mentioned. “That is probably not a part of our program. Our program proper now could be about taking part in one of the best gamers proper now and seeing if we are able to develop them.”

As for Japanese Michigan, Fisch mentioned he was impressed by the play of its line of defense in a 28-14 win over UMass, a victory that may put Washington quarterback Will Rogers and the offensive line on excessive alert this week.

The Eagles recorded six sacks towards the Minutemen in Week 1.

“They play a number of post-I protection, so anticipate a number of effort to cease the run, and we’ll see how we reply to that,” Fisch mentioned.

One Japanese Michigan participant who ought to be accustomed to Washington is linebacker James Djonkam, who was named the Mid-American Convention’s Defensive Participant of the Week final week after registering 13 tackles and one sack.

Djonkam is a switch from Arizona State, which performed Washington final season earlier than convention realignment took each groups out of the Pac-12.

–Subject Stage Media