Dillard-Allen Explains His Earlier Fall Camp Angst

Rylon Dillard-Allen was in fairly good spirits if not outwardly calm after Thursday's University of Washington football practice as he answered media questions, even one about a previous hot-tempered week of fall camp for him.

In it, the Husky safety seemed perpetually angry for the longest time, tossing someone else's helmet after a play, leaving a practice presumably to cool down and getting in a few shoving matches.

Dillard-Allen, or RDA as coaches and teammates tend to call him or "Batman" as he was known as an Arizona high schooler, typically pushes the edge in hitting people and talking to them on the field, but even those aforementioned antics were a little more from him than usual.

"My competitive spirit got the best of me," he said flatly, not looking for an excuse.

It was a case of him going for a long time during spring football and into fall camp without being involved and the aggression simply had to come out once he returned.

Rylon Dillard-Allen warms up for a UW fall scrimmage. | Dave Sizer photo

"I didn't really get to practice a lot in the spring, I came out in fall camp late and it just got out of hand," he said.

It should be noted that RDA wasn't punished for any of his outbursts by his coaches. He drew only a 15-yard penalty from an officiating crew in a scrimmage for something he did that was deemed unwarranted by the rules.

Fisch's staff has to walk a fine line with a guy like him, wanting him to be extra aggressive but not losing control and giving up penalty yards or even touchdowns.

"I love all my teammates," Dillard-Allen pointed out.

Dillard-Allen, a three-game starter as a freshman in 2025, will team with 13-game starter Alex McLaughlin to give the Huskies pair of veteran and extra physical safeties.

They'll fill out the back row on a UW defense that looks fairly well-stocked entering the season, notably offering a surplus of capable defensive linemen and linebackers.

These safeties are practically copycats in coming up fast to smack someone and leave an impression.

Rylon "Batman" Dillard-Allen, who wore No. 18, shows some emotion after making a big hit against Oregon. | Dave Sizer photo

Asked if he was ready to hit someone in another uniform, such as from Washington State in the season opener, RDA sort of let out a sigh.

"The No. 1 [rule] of our team is to protect the team," he said, sort of issuing a warning. "We have't been able to unleash what we've been building for. As for week one, it is what it is."

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