Washington's Safety Depth Could Be Thin Against Stanford
The Washington Huskies have seen a lot of improvement in the secondary this season, but their depth could be tested in Palo Alto against the Stanford Cardinal.
Safety Kamren Fabiculanen suffered an injury in Washington's 15-7 victory over the Arizona State Sun Devils and co-defensive coordinator Chuck Morrell said his status is day today. On top of that, UW coach Kalen DeBoer disclosed that safety Vince Nunley, who hasn't played since starting against the Arizona Wildcats, is questionable because of a non-football-related situation he didn't divulge.
"It's still up in the air on whether he'll be available this weekend is probably the best way to put it," DeBoer said.
If both Fabiculanen and Nunley are unable to play against the Cardinal, the Huskies find themselves incredibly thin at the position. Behind senior starters Asa Turner and Dominique Hampton, sophomore Makell Esteen is the only player with significant snaps under his belt.
That would probably leave redshirt freshman Tristan Dunn and true freshmen Vincent Holmes and Diesel Gordon as the next players up at the position.
The No. 5 Huskies aren't in a position where an untested player can be asked to take a large amount of snaps as the team pushes for a berth in the Pac-12 championship game and more.
Washington has received much better production from its secondary this year compared to 2022 and can't afford further attrition on the back end of the defense. The starting safeties have been productive in run support this season, but asking them to play close to 100 percent of the defensive snaps is not advisable.
Going forward, Nunley's status is important to the defense because he filled in admirably when Turner was out with an injury and recorded his first career interception against Arizona.
The coaching staff has been high on the sophomore and appeared to have big plans for him in 2022 before his season was cut short when he was injured in the opener.
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