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Inside The Huskies

Broncos' 20-20 Vision: First Lewis, Now Coleman

The former Husky running backs will answer to the same jersey number in Denver.
Dan Raley|
Jonah Coleman as Denver running back.
Jonah Coleman as Denver running back. | Broncos

Jonah Coleman will wear No. 20 for the Denver Broncos, which is not a new thing for a former University of Washington running back.

Thirty-four years ago, Greg Lewis pulled on the same jersey number for the Broncos, which was his college number, for his second NFL season after going from Montlake to the Mile High franchise. As a rookie, he temporarily had to put up with No. 41 before his desired digits became available.

Yet these two ball carriers share more similarities rather than just wardrobe preferences, such as size, performance and draft position.

Coleman, who wore No. 1 at the UW and No. 3 in Arizona, recently was selected by Denver in the fourth round, chosen with the 108th overall pick, while Lewis went to the Broncos in the fifth round as the 115th overall pick.

The 5-foot-8, 220-pound Coleman will join the Broncos after he was named a third-team All-Big Ten selection, while the 5-foot-10, 214-pound Lewis emerged from the UW as the very first Doak Walker Award winner, the Pac-10 Offensive Player of the Year and as a first-team All-Pac-10 selection.

Where these two want to greatly differ in Denver is Coleman would much prefer a long and fruitful NFL career whereas Lewis had the misfortune of lasting just two seasons in the league before knee injuries did him in.

Lewis, however, had his one moment in the pro football sun when he rushed 19 times for a career-best 111 yards in a 20-13 victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers on Nov. 3, 1991, in a game nationally televised from Denver.

Greg Lewis beaks through a hole against Washington State in 1990.
Greg Lewis beaks through a hole against Washington State in 1990. | UW

Coming out of college, Coleman finished with combined four-year Arizona and UW rushing totals of 522 carries for 2,939 yards and 32 touchdowns while Lewis in four Husky seasons piled up 529 carries for 2,678 yards and 22 TDs.

Coleman's career-high rushing output came for Arizona with his 11 carries for 179 yards against Colorado in 2023, while Lewis rushed 29 times for 205 yards against California in 1990.

Lewis finished with 15 100-yard rushing games at the college level while Coleman had nine.

In his NFL career, Lewis played in every Broncos game in 1991 and 1992 -- 32, which included six starts -- yet those knees brought his NFL career to a permanent stop.

For the past two seasons, these accredited Husky rushers were never far from each other on game day, with Coleman serving as the UW rushing leader and Lewis sitting in as part of the Husky radio team.

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Dan Raley
DAN RALEY

Dan Raley has worked for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, as well as for MSN.com and Boeing, the latter as a global aerospace writer. His sportswriting career spans four decades and he's covered University of Washington football and basketball during much of that time. In a working capacity, he's been to the Super Bowl, the NBA Finals, the MLB playoffs, the Masters, the U.S. Open, the PGA Championship and countless Final Fours and bowl games.

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