Washington running back Demitrius Bronson having a good spring

The clean slate that the new Washington coaching staff presented the Huskies football team upon taking over last December was even more pristine when it came to running back Demitrius Bronson.

A graduate of Kentwood High and a member of UW's Class of 2008, Bronson sat out last fall while taking care of some academic issues. That meant that unlike every other player on the roster they were inheriting, there was no film of Bronson for the new coaches to watch.

"I knew nothing about him," said running-backs coach Joel Thomas. "We obviously got to see a few of the team runs that we had in the wintertime. But other than that, I had zero football to judge him on."

He now has eight spring practices on which to judge Bronson, and the verdict is that the Huskies might have a diamond in the rough.

The 5-foot-10 Bronson, who enrolled in January after getting eligible, ran with the starting unit throughout Monday's practice. And as he has all spring, he broke another long run — it might have gone for 92 yards but was blown dead before its completion.

Thomas cautions that big runs at this early date don't necessarily mean a whole lot. Still, it's not where many figured Bronson would be this quickly in the game.

"He's been a pleasant surprise," Thomas said. "He does some really natural things with the ball in his hands. He finds some holes. And he's a stronger kid — he's as strong as he looks, let's put it that way."

He has also stayed on the field, a big part of climbing the ladder so quickly.

On Monday, the Huskies were down to what coach Steve Sarkisian called "three-and-a-half" running backs — Bronson, Willie Griffin and David Freeman, with Curtis Shaw able to do a little work while fighting through a bruised knee. Chris Polk (ankle), Brandon Johnson (concussion), Brandon Yakaboski (offseason knee surgery) and Terrance Dailey (academics) were all sidelined.

"I'm very impressed with his mental toughness," Sarkisian said of Bronson. "He really comes to work every day focused and really trying to learn and trying to get better."

Bronson says that sitting out last fall may actually be helping him now.

"It was hard," he said. "But then again, it gave me a lot of motivation to try to get better and try to become a Husky."

Thomas said there might be another silver lining to Bronson's absence last fall.

"He hasn't really been coached in this system here yet, so he's been a guy you can kind of mold, and his habits are different than what the other guys are accustomed to right now," Thomas said.

At 215 pounds, he's about 10 pounds bigger than any of UW's other tailbacks. During Saturday's scrimmage he scored two touchdowns in short-yardage situations, one of the many things the Huskies have struggled with in recent years.

"It gives me a slight advantage — especially on the goal line, they need short-yardage stuff like that to get under my pads and get the yards they need," Bronson said.

Notes

• Along with Dailey, redshirt freshmen OT Allen Carroll and LB Bradly Roussel also are sitting out with what Sarkisian said were academic issues. He said all remain with the team.

• OT Skyler Fancher left practice with a lower-leg injury that Sarkisian said "didn't look great." He said the team would know more after X-rays.

• WR D'Andre Goodwin, who has been battling a hamstring injury much of the spring, reinjured it midway through practice and didn't return. Sarkisian said Goodwin may sit for a few days to allow it time to heal.