Inside The Huskies

Husky Defense Needs Some Patchwork for Ohio State Game

The UW is missing a significant number of high-end players.
Dan Raley|
Bryce Butler holds up the Huskies' first fumble recovery of the season from the Apple Cup.
Bryce Butler holds up the Huskies' first fumble recovery of the season from the Apple Cup. | Dave Sizer photo

With the nation's No. 1 team coming to town next weekend, the University of Washington football team has been playing without its top linebacker, Jacob Manu, and against Washington State it more than likely lost its second-best player at that position, Buddah Al-Uqdah, both dealing with knee issues.

The Huskies played the Apple Cup without their top defensive back, 6-foot-4, 200-pound senior cornerback Tacario Davis, who's been sidelined by an upper-body injury for two weeks.

And Jayvon Parker, a 6-foot-3, 330-pound junior and likely the Huskies' best defensive lineman, is still not back from an Achilles tendon tear from 12 months ago and the resulting surgery.

That's not exactly the way you get ready to play Ohio State, which has been America's best college football team for going on two seasons now. You need all hands on deck, not digging deep into the depth chart to find 11 defensive starters.

"Obviously, we know we have some great challenges ahead of us," said UW coach Jedd Fisch after Saturday's 59-24 win over Washington State.

Isaiah Ward and Ta'ita'i Uiagalelei bring down a Cougar ball carrier in the Apple Cup.
Isaiah Ward and Ta'ita'i Uiagalelei bring down a Cougar ball carrier in the Apple Cup. | Dave Sizer photo

That infirmary list consists of 30 percent of a potential UW defensive starting lineup, which would really have its hands full against the Buckeyes (3-0) even if all of those guys were guaranteed ready to go for the Huskies (3-0).

Not only that, Davis' replacement, sophomore Leroy Bryant, inexplicably had the worst showing of his UW career.

Moving from starting nickelback to first-unit corner to face the Cougars, Bryant got pulled in the third quarter after getting beat a number of times by WSU, with a 48-yard pass from Zevi Eckhaus to wide receiver Joshua Meredith lobbed over him the most glaring.

That precipitated freshman Dylan Robinson replacing Bryant at corner and pulling 28 snaps, according to Pro Football Focus..

Up front, while everyone awaits Parker's return, the Huskies have done a little shuffling of the starters with both Western Michigan transfer Anterio Thompson and one-time JC transfer Bryce Butler opening games at one DT spot opposite Ta'ita'i Uiagalelei.

Only edge rushers Zach Durfee and Jacob Lane have been at their optimum best, supplying a lot of pass rush while maintaining good health. Durfee, in fact, collected a nation-best 11 quarterback pressures against WSU, according to PFF.,

While the Husky offense has remained relatively intact and highly productive through three games, the defense will need plenty of massaging before going to battle with Ohio State on Saturday..

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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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