Inside The Huskies

Husky Roster Review: Esteen Trying to be Another Kam Fab or Cook

The veteran pursues a full-time safety starting job as a senior after paying a lot of dues.

Dan Raley

Makell Esteen waits for his turn in a UW spring drill.
Makell Esteen waits for his turn in a UW spring drill. / Skylar Lin Visuals

Makell Esteen was asked but declined interview requests during University of Washington spring football. Wouldn't do the question-and-answer thing. Wasn't going to engage. He had done media stuff in previous seasons.

It's possible the senior safety simply didn't care for all of the attention given to incoming transfers CJ Christian and Alex McLaughlin, with the inference made that those newcomers might come in and take over as the starters at his position. That's just a guess.

Even Husky defensive coordinator Ryan Walters, took note of the situation and stressed that assumptions at safety shouldn't be made.

"Just because CJ and Alex are here, it doesn't mean they're guaranteed playing time," Walters said.

Fair enough. Yet once the Husky Spring Game ended, all people were talking about were McLaughlin's 80-yard interception return and Christian's 65-yarder, highlight plays for sure. Add to that, freshman safety Rylon Dillard-Allen's 30-yard pick-6.

The 6-foot-1, 205-pound Esteen, who's always been on the verge of playing a lot but hasn't, finds himself in a concentrated battle with a bunch of veterans and even a younger guy or two to finish up his career as a No. 1 safety.

Makell Esteen breaks on the ball during a UW spring drill.
Makell Esteen breaks on the ball during a UW spring drill. / Skylar Lin Visuals

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.

Esteen, who's started seven times in 33 games played, is trying to do what Kam Fabiculanan and Alex Cook did before him. That is be the veteran guy who pays a lot of football dues and becomes a full-time safety starter for his final UW season.

Opportunities are fleeting in Montlake, though. You only get so many chances to move up. Esteen saw that happen to his high school teammate Elijah Jackson with the Huskies.

They came in together from Lawndale High in the Los Angeles area and Jackson made a big move to start all 15 games for the UW's national runner-up team in 2023. Yet Jedd Fisch's staff arrived and made him a reserve last season, causing Jackson to transfer to TCU this offseason.

"You've got a lot of guys who've got experience, some who've got experience at other universities and some young guys who have matured physically that I'm excited to see get out there and compete," Walters said of safety competition. "There are no spots that are set in stone. Your spot on the depth chart is not owned, it's rented -- the rent is due every day."

Husky safety Makell Esteen makes a tackle at Oregon.
Husky safety Makell Esteen makes a tackle at Oregon. / Skylar Lin Visuals

Esteen spent much of the spring with the No. 1 defense, mostly lining up alongside Christian, but sometimes teaming with McLaughlin or sophomore Vince Holmes in practice.

He intercepted a Demond Williams Jr. pass in the fourth practice. He started alongside Dillard-Allen for the White team in the Spring Game.

He can't let up now. If he wins the job, it certainly would give him something to talk about with the media.

MAKELL ESTEEN FILE

What he's done:  Esteen began last season as the starter against Weber State and Eastern Michigan, got injured twice and missed games, and then returned to open games against Indiana, Penn State and to close the season against Louisville in the Sun Bowl. He had a season-high 13 tackles against the Hoosiers on the road. He has 70 career tackles, 2.5 tackles for loss, 3 interceptions, 6 pass break-ups.

Starter or not: Trivia note, Esteen is the only player left on the UW roster who played for the Huskies during the 2020 COVID-shortened season, making an appearance against Arizona before Fisch became coach. He pulled two starts for the 2023 team and five more a year ago. A job is there for the taking for him.

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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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