Dozen Husky Penalties Were Season-Opening Red Flag

Ryan Walters sat with his arms crossed, speaking in measured tones, not leaving anything up for debate.

The cause for this solemn moment this past Tuesday were 12 penalties for 130 yards marched off against the University of Washington football team in the Apple Cup, many of them crippling 15-yard infractions committed by the defensive coordinator's own over enthusiastic players.

With a puffed-out chest, second-year starting safety Rylon Dillard-Allen hit a Washington State player who was five yards out of bounds and later was flagged for two other penalties, including targeting.

Freshman Ramzak Fruean, continuously aggressive to the point it has made him a starter, was penalized for his own out-of-bounds collision.

Even team captain Jacob Manu drew an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty from his roaming linebacker role, which typically isn't his style.

Champ Taulealea got off to a rough start as a starter with multiple penalties. | Dave Sizer photo

Offensively, second-year starting right guard Champ Taulealea was docked for three holding calls early in the game.

It was one of the reasons the Huskies won the game by a cozy 24-10 rather than the more emphatic 23.5-point margin placed on the match-up by the odds-makers.

Enough, Walters said.

"They won't show up like that anymore because they can't," the defensive mastermind said of the bigger penalties. "If it continues to happen, then we won't have certain guys on the field."

Rylon Dillard-Allen and Alex McLaughlin start at safety for the Huskies. | Dave Sizer photo

Dillard-Allen, reminiscent of the extremely gifted but always angry former Husky and NFL cornerback Marcus Peters, possibly would be the first player to sit down if it came to that.

For more than a month now, he's let his emotions and tough-guy image get the better of him. Even he's acknowledged this has been an issue. Still, it persists.

Fellow starting safety Alex McLaughlin has tried his best to be encouraging in getting Dillard-Allen, known more commonly by his full RDA initials, to find a happy place without all of the yellow flags. He does this by letting bygones be bygones.

"I'm just letting him know it's OK with what's happened," McLaughlin said. "I think he approached everything after camp in getting in a few scuffles, the way he's attacked just being a great teammate and not doing unnecessary things anymore."

That sounds more like hopeful thinking than fact, though.

Walters prefers to speak in plural rather than singular terms in regards to offending players and penalties. He's done his fair share of speaking with the most chronic transgressors who've been out of control. It's up to them now.

"It can't be something that continues," he said. "They know that. They know the standard. It's been clearly defined. It's been pointed out. I'm confident it will improve in that area."

Add us as a preferred source on Google