Husky Roster Review: As Walk-On, Hopkins Looks for an Edge

Milton Hopkins Jr. looks like most of the other University of Washington edge rushers. Mobile and athletic. Long and lean.

However, the difference between him and the other guys he shares snaps with is they're getting paid for what they do on the football field and he's not.

A year ago, Hopkins was in a similar situation coming out of spring practice, as the walk-on defender who pulled a lot of April snaps, often bouncing between the No. 2 and 3 defensive groups.

What's changed in a 12 months time is he played in five Husky games last season during the run to the national championship finale, including against Jedd Fisch's Wildcats in an outing still n question until the UW walked away with a 31-24 victory in Tucson.

So Hopkins might be getting closer to the end game, which is handling more responsibility backed by scholarship funding and maybe a name, image and likeness opportunity tacked on.

This is one in a series of articles -- going from 0 to 99 on the Husky roster -- examining what each scholarship player and leading walk-on did this past spring and what to expect from them going forward.

Milton Hopkins Jr. gets in an edge rusher stance in spring ball. | Skylar Lin Visuals

In last year's season opener against Boise State, Hopkins made his college debut, with it coming in his third season in the program. He logged his first tackle in the second game against Tulsa, assisting on a stop. He shoved a California runner out of bounds for his first solo tackle. To play at the UW has been his plan all along.

"I want to contribute," Hopkins said in 2023. "It took the [Alamo] bowl to make me realize I wanted to be here, to be a contributor."

His college football progress is even more enlightening because he's a former quarterback from Seattle's O'Dea High School, a one-time two-way player who picked the defensive side of the ball as his college pathway. Ah, but he was a fairly adept dual-threat QB.

In 2019, Hopkins directed the Fighting Irish to a convincing 28-6 upset of JT Tuimoloau-led Eastside Catholic, ending the Crusaders' 18-game winning streak at the time, and guided O'Dea into the state championship game for a rematch with the same team and its Ohio State-bound edge rusher. That season, Hopkins threw for 12 touchdowns and ran for 9 scores.

Milton Hopkins Jr. is shown in 2023 at practice. | Skylar Lin Visuals

Hopkins is a defensive player through and through for the Huskies, though similar to Zach Durfee -- a fellow edge rusher and another one-time high school QB -- he wears a number more widely associated with a signal-caller. He answers to 14, Durfee 15.

MILTON HOPKINS JR. FILE

What he's done: Hopkins played in each of the first five games last season, against Boise State, Tulsa, Michigan State, California and Arizona, all in the month of September. He came up with a pair of tackles. It was an encouraging development for him.

Starter or not: He needs to continue to get on the field, in his case now play into October and beyond. Starting is not really an option, at least not unless he becomes a player in the regular rotation. The competition up front is stiffer with four sets of edges bidding for time in the spring, plus the portal pick-up of Jayden Wayne from Miami.

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