Inside The Huskies

Huskies Might Add Another Corner With Arizona Connection

Emmanuel Karnley played this past season after spending two at Arizona.
Dan Raley|
Virginia cornerback Emmanuel Karnley (19), considering a transfer to UW, celebrates an interception against Missouri.
Virginia cornerback Emmanuel Karnley (19), considering a transfer to UW, celebrates an interception against Missouri. | Travis Register-Imagn Images

Seeking starting cornerbacks for the University of Washington secondary, Husky coach Jedd Fisch brought in Ephesians Prysock and Tacario Davis from his previous coaching stop at Arizona to fill out the lineup.

Fisch now appears ready to convince Emmanuel "Manny" Karnley -- a third corner who played for him in Tucson -- to come to the UW and help replace those other guys, both of whom are now graduated, according to 247Sports.

Karnley, however, has been a few places since playing in Arizona. He spent spring practice with Miami last March before transferring to Virginia, where he was a 10-game starter this past season. He has two seasons of eligibility remaining.

It wasn't clear why he left the Hurricanes so abruptly, especially since he could have been playing for them in Thursday night's CFP semifinal game against Ole Miss had he stayed.

However, online reports seemed to suggest Karnley wasn't starting when he came out of spring ball and likely went elsewhere to make that happen.

For that matter, he was a reserve for three of his first four games at Virginia before securing a No. 1 job for an 11-3 team that beat Missouri 13-7 in the Gator Bowl.

At 6-foot-3 and 185 pounds, Karnley fits the mold of the long and lean coverage guy that Fisch's staff is amenable. He was signed by the now Husky coach, but played only the 2023 season for him, appearing in one game.

For Virginia, he had 26 tackles, 8 pass break-ups and a Gator Bowl interception against Missouri. He came up with 3 PBUs in a game against Duke and had a game-preserving goal-line tackle in overtime against North Carolina.

In 2024, he was a six-game starter at Arizona for coach Bob Brennan and often paired in the lineup with the aforementioned Davis after Fisch had left.

While Davis would transfer to the UW, Karnley last year left and chose Miami over Michigan and Ole Miss in the transfer portal, according to published reports. So he's always been fairly well regarded.

Emmanuel Karnley breaks up a pass intended for Missouri's Donovan Olugbode in the Gator Bowl.
Emmanuel Karnley breaks up a pass intended for Missouri's Donovan Olugbode in the Gator Bowl. | Corey Perrine/Florida Times-Union / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

If he joins the Huskies, Karnley will know more than just some of the Arizona guys who followed Fisch north. He's from Antioch, California, and played for Pittsburg High School, where he was a teammate with current UW wide receiver Rashid Williams.

The Huskies currently have 6-foot-1, 205-pound sophomore Dylan Robinson penciled in at one starting cornerback position, following a freshman season in which he started five times as a replacement for the injured Davis, including in the LA Bowl.

Another corner possibility is sophomore Rahshawn Clark, who was five-game UW starter at nickelback, including the LA Bowl, as well.

Fisch's staff also has four incoming freshmen cornerbacks arriving in Rahsjon Duncan, Elijah Durr, Ksani Giles and Jeron Jones, plus holdover corners in Ramonz Adams Jr., Elias Johnson and D'Aryhian Clemons

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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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