Taking a Closer Look at the Husky Secondary Fix

A year ago, a rejuvenated University of Washington football team was 4-0, felt good about its program revival under Kalen DeBoer and was as hopeful as could be as it prepared to face UCLA.

However, the Huskies were real thin in the secondary, missing starting cornerback Mishael Powell to injury and playing fellow corner Jordan Perryman at less than full strength with his own health issues, and they couldn't disguise this.

The Bruins readily spotted the weakness in the opposing pass coverage and took full advantage in a 40-32 victory at the Rose Bowl.

Entering game 5 of DeBoer's second season in charge, the UW is unbeaten again and has gone to great lengths to shore up its once undermanned secondary, particularly the corners. Arizona, this weekend's opponent and Pac-12 host in the desert, will have to dig deep to unearth any pass-coverage vulnerabilities.

The Husky defensive backfield still has injury concerns — losing starting free safety Asa Turner for an undetermined amount of time and reserve corner Davon Banks to a season-ending upper-body mishap — but things are hardly dire for this group.

What's different this time is DeBoer's staff not only has built depth in a year's time, these guys have turned into playmakers, repeatedly coming up with interceptions since the season began, 7 for the entire defense.

However, consider this comparison of last year's secondary starters and their season interception totals with the current guys and their numbers over just four games:

2022 2023

CB — Jordan Perryman 0 CB — Jabbar Muhammad 1

CB — Mishael Powell 0 CB — Elijah Jackson 0

SS — Alex Cook 0 SS — Dom Hampton 1

FS — Asa Turner 2 FS — Kam Fabiculanan 2

NB — Dom Hampton 0 NB — Mishael Powell 1

Note that four of last year's starters didn't have an interception over the entire 13-game schedule and four of this season's first-teamers do with plenty time to build on to their totals,. Three of the current first-teamers have come up with their first career college pass thefts over the past month.

In the transfer portal, the Huskies found a lockdown corner in Muhammad from Oklahoma State, plus they put Powell and Hampton in new positions that better suited their skill sets, and the defense has become much tighter.

"Jabbar is just super confident being by himself," UW co-defensive coordinator Chuck Morrell said.

Everyone is more accustomed to the needs of DeBoer's defensive staff and plays more confidently. While some of the younger DBs still get picked on, with Jackson in particular facing a weekly test, the coverage damage has been minimal while the UW has won four lopsided games.

In Saturday's 59-32 victory over Cal, the Huskies came up with three interceptions, including two long runbacks, one for a touchdown.

That didn't even count the 95-yard interception return for a score by reserve cornerback Thaddeus Dixon, the California junior-college transfer, in the third quarter that was nullified by a face-mask penalty called on him.

After UW linebacker Edefuan Ulofoshio went 45 yards to score with a pass theft on the game's first possession, Muhammad stole a second-quarter Bears pass and tried to match his second-row teammate in return yardage, zipping 42 yards before he was brought down.

"My eyes got real big because I saw a whole bunch of green," Muhammad said. "I started cutting back every which way."

All is well for the Husky secondary, or as well as can be, as it plays greedy rather than back on its heels.

Go to si.com/college/washington to read the latest Inside the Huskies stories — as soon as they’re published. Not all stories are posted on the fan sites.

Find Inside the Huskies on Facebook by searching: Inside Huskies/FanNation at SI.com or https://www.facebook.com/dan.raley.12

Follow Dan Raley of Inside the Huskies on Twitter: @DanRaley1 or @UWFanNation or @DanRaley3

Have a question, direct message me on Facebook or Twitter.