Through the early days of fall camp, freshman safety Gavin Day has made the most of his opportunities with the Washington Huskies. The 6-foot-3, 195-pound former four-star recruit has made his presence felt in the secondary thanks to his high-end range, athleticism, and physicality, building on a strong showing during spring practice. Now, as position coach Taylor Mays looks to fill out his depth chart, Day has continued to make plays and shown off his value. On Thursday, the product of Faith Lutheran High School in Las Vegas, Nevada, stepped in front of a pass from quarterback Treston Kini McMillan, intended for wide receiver Justice Williams in the end zone, for his first interception of fall camp and returned the pass to midfield before he was pushed out of bounds.
"Gavin Day is improving," Mays said on Thursday. "I would say he's definitely improving from where he was in the spring to now; he's doing the things that we need him to do, that he wants to do for himself to become a player that can contribute this year. So, he's getting there. He still has a little bit of a ways to go, but he's definitely on pace for what we expect out of him going into his freshman year." The Seattle native and three-time First Team All-American in his college career at USC, where he played a similar style to what Day showed on his high school film, was very detailed when asked what's next in the freshman's development. "I think with a young guy, it's just how consistent can they be?" Mays continued. "Sometimes you have young guys that are just wild men on the field and still playing like it's high school football. But sometimes we have guys that are very tentative and thinking too much, playing too slow. And so I think Gavin, like most freshmen, is kind of just a mix of both of those." "So we like them to, especially at safety, if you're in the middle of the field or in a deep zone, we can't have an error there, 'because a lot of times, that's a touchdown. So it's just the consistency part. The physical part I know will come with his body's development, but just the consistency would be the biggest thing that we're looking for from him. But he's on pace right now." This article originally appeared on Huskies Wire: Freshman safety displaying growth at Washington football fall camp