Defensive Back U? The Huskies Dare You to Throw on Them

Washington does many things well on the football field, but defending the pass is its forte. See where Sports Illustrated ranks it among the nation's best in producing defensive backs.

The Washington football team won the 2018 Pac-12 championship game and cornerback Byron Murphy held up the most valuable player trophy.

The year before, the Huskies walked away with the conference title and strong safety Taylor Rapp raised the MVP hardware up high.

See a pattern here?

The UW, while it can boast of elite linebackers and tight ends at times, regularly puts together a secondary as well as anyone across the college football landscape. 

The roll call of defensive backs leaving Seattle for the NFL over the past decade is a long one: Kevin King, Desmond Trufant, Sidney Jones, Budda Baker, Marcus Peters, JoJo McIntosh, Ezekiel Turner, Jordan Miller, Rapp and Murphy.

King, Baker, Peters, Rapp and Murphy, in particular, have made the seamless transition to become pro starters and reliable playmakers. 

Together, they make the Huskies a blue-blood program for producing hard-hitting safeties and lockdown corners, as demonstrated here in Reid Foster's position research for Sports Illustrated.

Foster ranks the schools based on number of NFL players, their position in the draft, honors earned and more. See where he has Washington slotted in his top 10 of DB schools.

The Huskies not only turn out talented players in general, they're one of the very best programs in finding and developing high-level cornerbacks. Again, check out Foster's position study that covers the past decade.

When putting secondaries together, no one in the Pac-12 comes close to what the Huskies do. Not USC. Not Oregon. 

Maybe that's why the Huskies took Jimmy Lake, their one-time defensive coordinator and defensive-backs coach, and promoted him to head coach.