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Inside The Huskies

Huskies Return to Big Sky for Another All-League Defensive Back

Alex McLaughlin of Northern Arizona reveals he is committed to the UW football team.
Dan Raley|
Alex McLaughlin will transfer from Northern Arizona to the UW.
Alex McLaughlin will transfer from Northern Arizona to the UW. | SI

The University of Washington football team needed a defense back so it turned to a familiar talent source -- the Big Sky Conference -- and on Tuesday received a commitment from Northern Arizona safety Alex McLaughlin.

The 6-foot-2, 190-pound McLaughlin becomes the third first-team All-Big Sky secondary selection picked up by the Huskies over four seasons, joining former UW cornerback Jordan Perryman, who won top honors at UC Davis in 2021, and current safety Cam Broussard, who earned those accolades a year ago for Sacramento State.

McLaughlin stands to be the most physical of this trio, leaving his team with 167 career tackles in his two seasons, including 96 for his 8-5 Lumberjacks team that recently completed its season with a 24-0 loss to Abilene Christian in the FCS playoffs.

Chances are Jedd Fisch remembered this hard-hitting guy from two years ago -- and beyond.

In McLaughlin's first college game in 2023, he came up with 10 tackles, half a sack and 2 pass break-ups in a 38-3 loss to Fisch's Wildcats team in Tucson.

Coming out of Hamilton High School in Chandler, Arizona, the safety reportedly had scholarship offers from Arizona, Colorado and Washington State, but opted for the Big Sky school because it felt comfortable with family there.

McLaughlin's older brother, Trent, currently is a 6-foot-6 shooting senior guard for Northern Arizona who leads the team in scoring with a 22-point average.


The kid brother has been similarly successful on the football field. McLaughlin was chosen first-team and second-team All-Big Sky in his two seasons, plus he received three Defensive Player of the Week honors.

His most recent weekly accolade came after he piled up13 tackles and grabbed an interception in a regular-season-ending 30-18 win over Eastern Washington.

Not only is he good in coverage, departing Northern Arizona with 6 career interceptions, McLaughlin is highly effective coming off the edge, as the above video shows, by ringing up 7 sacks for the Lumberjacks.

For the latest UW football and basketball news, go to si.com/college/washington

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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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