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Inside The Huskies

McLaughlin Draws National Spotlight for Safety Play

The Husky defensive back is pegged as one of college football's best.
Dan Raley|
Alex McLaughlin walks off the field at Husky Stadium in triumphant fashion.
Alex McLaughlin walks off the field at Husky Stadium in triumphant fashion. | Dave Sizer photo

With its uneven season, the University of Washington football team has been a little short on team or individual accolades.

The Huskies (4-3 overall, 1-3 Big Ten) left the Associated Press Top 25 poll after a pair of uninspiring performances that ended with victories but a lot of skepticism surrounding this team.

The UW received no Big Ten individual rewards through two months of games, especially when losing its three league outings.

Leave it to Alex McLaughlin to make someone step up and take a hard look at him and what he's done through seven games.

He's been consistently good.

On Wednesday, The Sporting News released its Midseason All-America Team and selected the Husky strong safety among the 25 players singled out.

The 6-foot-2, 205-pound McLaughlin was one of five defensive backs placed on this list, sharing the attention with California safety Kingston Loa, UCLA safety Tai'Shawn James, Clemson cornerback Ashton Hampton and Notre Dame cornerback Leonard Moore.

McLaughlin has more tackles than each of the others by a wide margin and is the only one who leads his team in that category with 48.

He also has 6.5 tackles for loss, 2.5 sacks, 2 interceptions, 3 pass break-ups and a forced fumble.

In contrast, Cal's Loa has the most interceptions among this quintet with 5. He also has 31 tackles, a TFL and a PBU.

UCLA's James has 4 interceptions, 33 tackles, a half TFL and 2 PBUs.

Hampton from Clemson has 9 PBUs, 23 tackles, 2 TFLs and an interception.

Notre Dame's Moore has somewhat modest five-game stats of 8 solo tackles and 4 PBUs.

Alex McLaughlin holds up his interception against Washington State in the season opener.
Alex McLaughlin holds up his interception against Washington State in the season opener. | Dave Sizer photo

A Northern Arizona transfer in 2025, McLaughlin now stands at 309 career tackles at his two schools, plus 10 interceptions and 23 pass break-ups over three and a half seasons.

While he could be auditioning for a respectable NFL draft slot with five or six Husky games remaining, the hard-hitting player still has the option to return for a fifth college season in 2027.

Thanks to the NCAA's new "five in five" rule that was passed this summer, McLaughlin has a fifth season available to him should he need it to improve his pro football regard or simply want to play another college season.

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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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