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Turner's Portal Exit Leaves UW With Lone Secondary Starter Returning

Cornerback Elijah Jackson is all that's left of No. 1 Husky defensive backfield.
Dan Raley|
Turner's Portal Exit Leaves UW With Lone Secondary Starter Returning
Turner's Portal Exit Leaves UW With Lone Secondary Starter Returning

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Washington Huskies

Whoever the new University of Washington football coach is, whether it is Jedd Fisch or someone else, and the search is narrowing, he'll need to come up with practically an all-new secondary.

Since Kalen DeBoer left for Alabama, cornerback Jabbar Muhammad, nickelback Mishael Powell and most recently free safety Asa Turner — all starters at the end of the season — have entered the transfer portal, while strong safety Dominique Hampton used up his six seasons of eligibility.

That leaves rising sophomore corner Elijah Jackson as the only defensive backfield first-teamer still on the roster.

Turner, whose fifth UW season literally was a bust because of injuries to both hands that required in-season surgery, probably needs a change of scenery after spending five seasons in Montlake.

The 6-foot-3, 200-pound senior from Carlsbad, California, played less than half of this past season, appearing in seven games and starting six.

After playing for three UW coaches, he departs with career numbers of 148 tackles, 8 pass break-ups, 6 interceptions and a fumble recovery.

He came to the UW as a highly touted 4-star player who picked the Huskies over Notre Dame. He played immediately as a freshman in 2019, appearing in 12 games and starting five. 

That was the only time Turner would play a full season for the Huskies with injuries and a COVID-shortened schedule getting in the way of his progression. He still ended up playing in 45 games and starting 28 over his career. 

With all of the turnover, if the Huskies had to play a game next weekend, they would field a starting secondary that looks like something like this: rising senior Thaddeus Dixon and Jackson at the corners, senior Kamren Fabiculanan and junior Makell Esteen at the safeties and sophomore Tristan Dunn at the nickelback spot. 

Powell and Turner were somewhat surprising departures, especially the former who had worked his way into a prominent role after coming to the UW as a walk-on player. 

Muhammad, who was a second-team All-Pac-12 selection for the Huskies after transferring in from Oklahoma State, has indicated he's headed for the transfer portal though he previously seemed to suggest a productive UW season would send him to the NFL draft, which still may be the case.

Either way, a new Husky coach will have a lot of work to do in rebuilding the pass coverage from front to back.  

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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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