Husky Roster Review: Clemons is Living UW Dream, Getting Earful

The freshman cornerback got his introduction to Montlake football and seemed to hold up OK.

D'Aryhian Clemons stretches out during a UW spring practice. / Skylar Lin Visuals

Since he was 10, according to his mother, D'Aryhian Clemons always wanted to be a University of Washington football player.

Not quite a decade later, the cornerback from Spanaway, Washington, gets his wish as he comes out for Husky spring practice smartly dressed in a white jersey, gray pants and a gold helmet covered with mustard-colored protective padding.

Yet on this particular April day, Clemons has secondary coach John Richardson impatiently running around him and screaming in his ear, "That's a penalty! Stop grabbing!"

Living the dream. Getting an earful. Loud and clear.

Actually the introduction to college football for the 6-foot, 185-pound freshman cornerback seemed to go reasonably well as he completed all 15 practices, mostly running with the No. 2 defense while getting beat here and knocking down passes there.

Normal indoctrination, get-acquainted, new-player stuff.

He spoke it and now he is living it! You should be proud! ☔️☔️ https://t.co/LyWhO8iPw6

— John Richardson (@CoachJRich) May 2, 2025

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.

While other teammates seemed to get exposed often in coverage, the thin and somewhat speedy Clemons seemed to keep the damage to a minimum.

He first became noticeable in the sixth practice when he was targeted in the end zone on passes for fellow freshman Marcus Harris and sophomore Rashid Williams, stuck with them and both balls fell incomplete. Later that day, he supplied tight coverage on a pass to freshman Chris Lawson, who felt his presence and dropped the football.

All along, Richardson offered him and the other UW corner candidates some bottom-line, springtime instruction emphasizing the demands of the Big Ten.

"You're going against top-tier teams, national championship teams," Richardson said. "It forces you to be a complete DB I believe in this conference. The top DBs not only cover, they can also tackle. That's the challenge we're taking right here."

D'Aryhian Clemons is shown with his mom on a UW visit. / UW

In the UW Spring Game, Clemons was all over Raiden Vines-Bright in the end zone, only to have the freshman wide receiver make a difficult, acrobatic catch for a touchdown.

The freshman corner had to be left wondering what more could he have done to prevent the six points from happening.

Contrary to Richardson's earlier rant, Clemons probably should have interfered with Vines-Bright in this instance and taken the flag and a bow.

It's tough out there being on cornerback island.

D'ARYHIAN CLEMONS FILE

What he's done: While mostly a cornerback and a second-unit defender during spring ball, Clemons received a late trial at nickel as the Huskies ran a lot of players though that open position. He also took a turn or two with a group composed mostly of projected starters.

Starter or not: Clemons, who was a 1,037-yard rusher as a Spanaway Lake High sophomore, can run, which is mandatory for his Husky corner pursuits. He's long, too. He got the spring intro to the college game out of the way. Like all of the other cornerbacks, he'll have to wait for Tacario Davis and Ephesians Prysock to graduate before he can bid for a starting job, maybe next spring.

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