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Inside The Huskies

Reconfigured Husky Secondary Draws Optimistic Ranking

The UW relies on its DB reputation to draw more attention.
Dan Raley|
Reconfigured Husky Secondary Draws Optimistic Ranking
Reconfigured Husky Secondary Draws Optimistic Ranking

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Washington Huskies

Just one full-time starter returns to the University of Washington secondary, which also has a new set of coaches guiding it.

Gone are first-team All-Pac-12 cornerbacks Trent McDuffie and Kyler Gordon, plus nickelback Bookie Radley-Hiles, all now in the NFL.

What's left is senior safety Alex Cook, a nine-game starter; safety Asa Turner, hybrid Husky Dominique Hampton and cornerback Mishael Powell, who each started three or four games tops in 2021; plus newcomer in senior Jordan Perryman, a transfer from UC Davis and two-time, first-team All-Big Sky selection.

Turner has four career interceptions, Cook one and Perryman brings three with him from his previous stop.

That's a patchwork quilt.

Quite possibly the UW's recent budding reputation for supplying NFL-ready defensive backs has something to do with it, but this reworked Husky secondary holds down a spot on Big Game Boomer's Top 50, checking in at No. 44. 

Among the other secondaries listed here, the Huskies fall in lock step behind other Pac-12 defensive backfields such as those from Utah (5), Oregon (8), California (32) and Oregon State (38).

As with other recent top 50 lists, conference short-timers USC and UCLA are nowhere to be found with their current collections of DBs.

The Huskies are hoping their next five defenders can uphold their reputation built roughly off a dozen years of stingy coverage and pro-bound players. 

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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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