Huskies Continue to Patch Up Secondary, Replace Third Starter
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In University of Washington football warm-ups, it was clear something was up. On Saturday night, coaches hovered around redshirt freshman cornerback Davon Banks as he stretched out. They talked to him, slapped hands with him, made sure he was ready.
In the 40-22 victory over Stanford, the 5-foot-11, 175-pound Banks from San Jacinto, California, started in the Husky secondary for the first time in his career — becoming the third new first-teamer in as many games in the five positions.
That's a 60 percent turnover rate. That's usually a defensive death knell, especially when replacing both No. corners, on top of graduating both of them from last season.
Yet these Kalen DeBoer's Huskies continue to show themselves as a resilient as can be as they patch things up defensively and press on.
"I'm super proud of the way our defensive coaches have schemed up around our personnel and put them, not in areas to hide weaknesses or anything like that, but actually use their strengths," DeBoer said.
Banks replaced sophomore Mishael Powell, who started the first three games but was unable to go because of an unspecified injury and likely will miss Friday night's game at UCLA, too.
A week earlier, it was sophomore Kam Fabiculanan switching over from the Husky hybrid position to start at safety in place of junior Asa Turner, who started the first two games and whose return remains unclear.
In the season opener against Kent State, junior Julius Irvin moved from safety to cornerback during the game and stepped in for UC Davis transfer Jordan Perryman, a sixth-year senior who was injured two and a half quarters into his Husky career. Perryman was in uniform for the Stanford game but not able to return so far.
On the second series, Banks could be seen getting initiated. He was shoved around hard by Stanford senior wide receiver Michael Wilson and shoved back.
Later in the second quarter, Wilson got a step on the young corner and beat him for a 23-yard touchdown pass for the Cardinal's first score, cutting the UW lead to 17-7.
Yet rather than stress about it, the Huskies simply racheted up the pressure, bringing a lot of people to put pressure on Stanford quarterback Tanner McKee and try to take it off the secondary. The result was eight sacks for the home team and an 18-point victory.
The UW relied on original surviving starters in veterans Alex Cook at safety and Dominique Hampton at Husky hybrid player to team with the new starters in Banks, Irvin and Fabiculanan.
Hampton and Cook led all Husky defensive players with 8 and 7 tackles, respectively. Fabiculanan and true freshman Jaivion Green coming off the bench each had a pass deflection. Banks finished with 3 tackles while Fabiculanan had 5 and Irvin just 1.
Green, a first-year player from Houston and getting an earlier than expected baptism, was typical of how the Huskies are playing it these days. They take a hit but hit back.
In the closing moments, Green got lost and beat for a 78-yard touchdown pass to Stanford's ever troublesome Wilson, this after laying out another receiver with a big hit and knocking a pass away.
Replacing three secondary starters with minimal damage, and no reflection in the game outcome, is a heady effort by the Huskies, who've probably been pushed to the limit.
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