We’re 47 days from Washington’s 2025 season opener against Colorado State on August 30, and the No. 47 jersey has belonged to some memorable Huskies over the years.
One of the toughest to ever wear it was Joe Kelley, whose path to Montlake took patience. A Prop 48 non-qualifier, Kelley spent two full years getting his academics in order before he finally got on the field and lettered four straight seasons from 1999 to 2002.
Once he did, he became the kind of player teammates leaned on. Kelley finished with 82 tackles, 19 tackles-for-loss and 11 sacks, and he was a key piece of Washington’s 2000 team that went 11-1, beat Purdue in the Rose Bowl and ended the year ranked third in the country.
Dean Derby’s name still jumps off the page for what he did against Illinois in 1956. The Walla Walla native ripped off a 92-yard touchdown run in a 28-13 win at Husky Stadium, the second-longest run in program history.
In three seasons as a letterman, Derby piled up 515 rushing yards and eight touchdowns, led the team with nine catches for 97 yards in 1956, and also made his mark on defense. That all helped get him drafted by the Los Angeles Rams in the fifth round of the 1957 Draft.
Derby went on to play six NFL seasons, spending five years with the Pittsburgh Steelers and one with the Minnesota Vikings. In his third pro season, he led the league with seven interceptions, made the Pro Bowl and earned First Team All-Pro honors.
Jamal Fountaine brought plenty of hardware to the No. 47 lineage as well. A four-year letter winner from 1990 to 1993, he collected two Rose Bowl rings and one national championship ring at Washington.
He was a two-year starter and finished with 120 tackles, 26.5 tackles-for-loss and 10.5 sacks. Fountaine went undrafted in 1994, but signed with the San Francisco 49ers and picked up another ring with a Super Bowl XXIX championship in the 1994 season.
He later played for the Carolina Panthers and Atlanta Falcons before becoming a firefighter with the Alameda County Fire Department in 2008.
Pat Conniff fit the mold of the rugged Washington fullback at the turn of the century. The Woodinville product was on the field for some of the program’s most memorable moments, including Reggie Davis’ over-the-shoulder catch of Brock Huard’s long touchdown pass against Arizona State in 1998 and the comeback win at Stanford in 2000.
Conniff never put up huge numbers, but he still rushed for 381 yards and seven touchdowns and added nine receptions for 63 yards while earning four letters from 1997 to 2000. More than anything, he was a hammer as a lead blocker for Rich Alexis, Willie Hurst and Rashaan Shehee.
And then there’s Peyton Henry, the top scorer in program history. Henry signed with Washington as a walk-on in 2017 and redshirted, then took over the kicking job and handled all place-kicking duties from 2018 through 2022.
His early career had its bumps, including a key miss at Oregon as time expired in 2018, but he kept climbing. Henry finished 71 of 88 on field goals, with a long of 50, and scored 402 points to break Jeff Jaeger’s record of 380 set from 1983 to 1986.
Henry’s biggest kick came in his final season, when he drilled a 43-yarder with :51 left to lift Washington to a 37-34 win over the Ducks in Autzen Stadium. The twist: it came from nearly the same spot where he had missed four years earlier.
In Other News...
Washington Just Got A Crucial International Roster Development
Washingtons roster overhaul for the 2026-27 season picked up an important international piece when Australian guard Tristan Devers moved on from the Brisbane Bullets and committed to the Huskies. Devers spent three years in the Bullets organization and saw action in 31 games last season, giving Washington another backcourt option as the program continues reshaping its lineup for the future.
The bigger question now is how quickly the Huskies can turn that commitment into a usable roster spot under the new NCAA guidance affecting international additions. Devers is part of a small group of overseas recruits Washington is trying to sort through, alongside Brazilian forward Wini Braga and Croatian forward Boris Tisma, while Nikola Dzepina is in a different position because he is already enrolled. For a team in the middle of major change, the paperwork may end up mattering just as much as the promise of the talent. [Read more 🡒]
Nikola Dzepina May Be Washingtons Surprise Answer After Steinbachs Exit
Washington is once again piecing together a roster after a heavy offseason turnover, and that has put a spotlight on the players who can grow into bigger roles quickly. Sophomore forward Nikola Dzepina is one of the more intriguing names in that mix after a limited role last season, especially after his summer run with Serbia at the FIBA U20 EuroBasket tournament suggested he may be ready for a much larger workload.
Dzepina averaged 13.9 points and 6.6 rebounds in that event, shot 57.1% and earned a place on the All-Star Five, a strong sign for a Huskies frontcourt that needs answers after losing key pieces like Hannes Steinbach and Zoom Diallo. Whether that international surge carries over to Seattle will be one of the more important early-season questions for a team trying to settle its rotation fast. [Read more 🡒]