Husky Roster Review: Esteen Ready to Be Starter with Jackson Again

Makell Esteen and Elijah Jackson were teammates and two-way starters at Lawndale High School, which is located just south of Los Angeles International Airport and backed up against busy Interstate 405.

They were defensive backs and receivers, helping these SoCal Cardinals -- no, not the Mowers -- to a 9-3 record and into the CIF Southern Section playoffs, reaching the quarterfinals round. The recruiting services held them in equal regard, grading Esteen as the nation's No. 35 safety and Jackson as the country's 47th cornerback prospect. Esteen had 10 pass break-ups in their senior season, Jackson 8.

They used their L.A. success to secure University of Washington scholarships and sign with Jimmy Lake's coaching staff.

Esteen got into a game first for the Huskies in 2020, but Jackson became a starter first in 2022. They have a chance as fifth-year juniors to become UW first-teamers on a full-time basis together, though both face stiff competition before that will finally happen again.

"Me and E.J. were close in high school, but coming here just made us brothers, brothers in arms," Esteen said last year.

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.

Makell Esteen sets himself for a safety drill. | Skylar Lin Visuals

The 6-foot-1, 190-pound Esteen spent all of spring practice running as a No. 1 safety for Jedd Fisch's new UW coaching staff, while Jackson got dinged up, sat out at times and had to work his way back up the depth chart.

A year ago, Esteen got his big chance to play significant minutes, appearing in 14 of 15 games and starting against Stanford and Washington State, temporarily sharing the secondary each time with Jackson.

Kalen DeBoer's coaching staff liked the way Esteen played because he was always around the ball. On his first play of the 2022 season, he came off the bench late in the game to intercept a Kent State pass. He stole another pass against Colorado that year. He picked up the third pass theft of his career against Washington State in the Apple Cup last November.

Now he's on the cusp of starting full-time next to his high school buddy once more, sharing in a reunion five years in the making.

Makell Esteen works on his tackling in spring ball. | Skylar Lin Visuals

MAKELL ESTEEN FILE

What he's done: Esteen has appeared in 23 games for the Huskies, coming up with 26 tackles, 7 pass break-ups and those 3 interceptions. He's been patient, having to prove himself to three different coaching staff's with DeBoer's staff using him 22 times.

Starter or not: Esteen has two Husky starts under his belt, so it's not new to him. He held a No. 1 job opposite Kam Fabiculanan all spring, yet Fisch picked up a couple of safeties in the transfer portal in Sacramento State's Cameron Broussard and Oklahoma's Justin Harrington so the lineup is far from set.

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