Huskies Take Their Own Trip To The Moon

The walk-on, or non-scholarship player, has become a dying breed for the University of Washington football team, with just eight of them currently holding down spring roster spots.

Yet among them is running back Ryken Moon, who would seem to have his own customized Husky financial backing of sorts — he’s the son of Warren Moon, the former UW and NFL quarterback who’s a Pro Football Hall of Fame inductee.

What’s different about this 5-foot-11, 214-pound player with those rich football bloodlines is he’s convinced Jedd Fisch’s coaching staff that he deserves to get on the field in some manner and early in his career no less.

As a true freshman in 2025, Moon ran five times for 22 yards combined against Purdue and UCLA, which were more carries than scholarship freshmen Quaid Carr and Julian McMahan had altogether last season.

This spring, he’s carried the football no fewer than 18 times in the 11-on-11 segments, often moving up past the scholarship guys in the rotation. In Tuesday’s practice, he burst through the middle for 15 yards, which was his longest run for the spring. He’s also caught at least 6 passes.

“That’s why he came here — he wanted to prove ‘I can play,’ ” running-backs coach Scottie Graham said. “We gave him opportunity.”

Warren Moon, who’s been out to watch practice a few times, and Graham, who was an Ohio State and NFL running back, know each other well. They were teammates for the Minnesota Vikings.

Arriving from Bellevue High School as a highly decorated player, he was named 2024 3A State Player of the Year as a running back and a safety. As a junior, he was selected as an All-Kingco linebacker.

He held scholarship offers from Army, Air Force, Nevada, Rice and Portland State, according to his 247Sports recruiting profile, but chose to come to his father’s alma mater.

“We didn’t know exactly where he was going to play, whether he was going to play safety,” Graham said. “He’s a pretty good safety.”

For now, Moon’s preference appears to be on the offensive side of the ball. He’s caught multiple passes in practice from Demond Williams Jr and Elijah Brown, the Huskies’ top two quarterbacks. In the ninth practice, he supplied a 2-yard touchdown run by somersaulting into the end zone.

Still, Graham is encouraging him to consider all of his Montlake football options, which even supersede offense and defense.

“He’s physical, he’s really physical,” the coach said. “He should be able to help out on special teams with Coach [Chris] Petrilli. That’s one of the things we make sure our backs are playing special teams. With Ryken, I try to challenge him to be a special-teams captain.”