Tacario Davis' Return Made Things Happen for Huskies

Things happen when Tacario Davis is on the football field.

Even when the extra-long University of Washington cornerback was injured, forcing him to miss three consecutive games, he hurt himself while intercepting a pass against UC Davis -- fully extending himself to steal the ball and then landing on it.

Then leave it to the 6-foot-4, 200-pound defender from Long Beach, California, to be the first one to return after he was one of six Husky starters to go down over a four-game stretch.

HIs impact was immediate in Friday night's 38-19 victory over Rutgers as he nearly intercepted two passes and pilfered a third only to give that one back when he was called for pass interference.

Clearly, the visiting Scarlet Knights knew where he was on the football field.

"I thought he played really well," UW coach Jedd Fisch said. "I thought he played good, sticky coverage."

The week before, Maryland made a concentrated effort to target Davis' replacement, freshman Dylan Robinson, hoping for a misstep from the first-year player.

While Robinson is physically imposing himself at 6-foot-3 and 205 pounds and a talent, the Huskies are just that much more takeaway-minded when Davis teams with 6-foot-4, 195-pound Ephesians Prysock as the starting cornerbacks.

They weren't perfect against Rutgers, with quarterback Athan Kaliakmanis throwing 50 times and completing 31 for 386 yards and 2 scores. Yet potential turnovers were never far away.

Tacario Davis hugs teammate Ephesians Prysock during the Rutgers game. | Dave Sizer photo

Consider that at the end of the first quarter Davis had his hands on a Rutgers pass at the Scarlet Knights 15, but couldn't hang on to it, missing out on a certain pick-6 that beckoned him.

Four plays later and into the second quarter, Davis intercepted a Rutgers ball at the opposing 48 but was flagged for defensive pass interference, negating the turnover.

UW coach Jedd Fisch had no qualms with his guys dishing out some rough stuff in coverage. In fact, he expected it.

"We've got to play aggressive," the coach said. "They called DPI twice -- that's going to happen. if we're going to pay aggressive man-to-man coverage, that, at times, is going to happen."

Tacario Davis trails Rutgers' Antwan Raymond into the end zone. | Dave Sizer photo

Near the end of the third quarter, Davis had the Scarlet Knights' Kaliakmanis throw one at his feet at the opposing 48, another near pass theft.

With the clock inside the final two minutes of the game, Prysock finished off Rutgers with an end-zone interception, giving the Huskies' corner tandem at least one potential game-breaking coverage play per quarter.

Davis and Prysock also had one pass break-up each. One guy always plays better with the other next to him.

Ephesians Prysock applies tight coverage to a Rutgers receiver. | Dave Sizer photo

They were starting corners at Arizona in 2023. They played for different teams a year ago, before getting reunited when Davis followed Prysock to Washington. They played just a game and a half together in Montlake before Davis got hurt.

Everyone was happy to see Davis take the field again, no one more than Prysock -- if not Fisch.

"He was around the ball a lot," the coach said of Davis. "He's just going to get better and better."

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