The Seattle Times wants you to believe the gap between Washington and the top of the college football world is a matter of a few players taking a step forward. Maybe. But as a WSU student watching from the other side of the state, I read the breakdown of three Huskies poised to make a leap in 2026 with a familiar mix of curiosity and side-eye. It's the same energy as watching a friend plan a big move while ignoring the boxes still piled in their hallway. You want to root for the ambition, but you also know the difference between a plan and a reality check.
Here's the thing about "poised to take big strides": it's a phrase that does a lot of heavy lifting. It assumes the trajectory is linear, which in football, and in life, it rarely is. The article points to specific players who need to fill gaps if UW wants to crash the College Football Playoff conversation. That's a solid, concrete goal. But it's worth noting that the same week this piece ran, our own publication covered a UW Robot Mimics Grasshopper, Masters the Jump and the closure of Six Washington Starbucks. So, on any given week in this state, we're juggling innovation, economic shifts, and sports optimism all at once. It's a reminder that no single story exists in a vacuum. The Huskies aren't just competing against Oregon; they're competing for attention in a news cycle that also cares about robots and lattes.
My honest take? This piece is useful if you read it as a checklist, not a prophecy. For our readers, the practical angle is simple: don't buy the hype, but don't ignore the names. When a program says it wants to be elite, the proof isn't in the preseason polls or the player features. It's in the fourth quarter of a game in mid-October when the other team's crowd is loud and the easy play is the smart one. The players they name are the ones who need to be consistent, not spectacular. That's the boring, real work. I'd tell a friend who asked: watch the offensive line and the secondary. That's where leaps are actually made. The skill positions get the highlights, but the jump happens in the trenches and the backfield.
What I'm left wondering is whether the coaching staff can develop these guys without the benefit of a soft landing. The schedule isn't going to do them favors, and unlike a Century of Silence at ArtsWest, there's no artistic license for a slow start. If one of these three doesn't pan out, the whole "push for the Playoff" talk fizzles by Halloween. So, here's the concrete thing to watch: which of these names is still getting meaningful reps in November. That's your tell. Not the spring practice buzz, not the projected depth chart. Just who's still on the field when the games actually matter. That's the real leap.
