Zaydrius Rainey-Sale Will Play, But Will He Start?

UW Roster Review: The sophomore linebacker is bigger and better, but not guaranteed a No. 1 job.

Zaydrius Rainey-Sale is comfortable with a ball in his hands. | Dave Sizer photo

In one of Montlake's little ironies, Zaydrius Rainey-Sale might be the most talented and physically imposing linebacker for the University of Washington football team, if not its top NFL prospect at that position.

Yet come September, he might not even be a starter for the Huskies.

The 6-foot-2, 240-pound Rainey-Sale from Tacoma is part of a stockpile of UW talent on the second row, where the competition could be so fierce the coaching staff simply chooses two first-teamers by seniority.

Or by game-day tackles. Or by who's first in practice wind sprints.

A sophomore, Rainey-Sale is the youngest of four linebacker candidates with impressive credentials, joined by seniors Jacob Manu and Xe'ree Alexander, plus junior Buddah Al-Uqdah. All have been starters for the UW.

Manu once led the Pac-12 in tackles. Alexander was the LA Bowl Defensive Most Valuable Player. Al-Uqdah was the UW's top linebacker last season before a knee injury did him in.

As for Rainey-Sale, he has a flair for the dramatic. He first committed to the Huskies on the day they played in the College Football Playoff national championship game against Michigan in 2024, and once more following the coaching change from Kalen DeBoer to Jedd Fisch.

The linebacker was a recruiting priority for Fisch's staff all along.

Zaydrius Rainey-Sale is a commanding presence. | Dave Sizer photo

This is one in a series of articles -- going from 0 to 99 on the UW roster -- examining what each scholarship player and leading walk-on did in spring practice and what to expect from them going into fall camp.

Rainey-Sale welcomes the fall competition ahead, looking at things through a rational lens rather than one guided by his ego.

“I feel like it helps us a lot, because we can all be fresh and have a good, healthy rotation, especially when Buddah comes back," he said during spring ball. "I feel like we’re going to be more deep and better than anyone in college football.”

Zaydrius Rainey-Sale gets ready for the next play. | Dave Sizer photo

For the first nine spring practices, Rainey-Sale rotated in and out of the No. 1 defense, playing alongside either Manu or Alexander, or alongside both of them in a three-linebacker alignment.

For the next five April workouts, however, he pulled on a gold jersey that signified him as injured. Yet he continued to participate in a limited manner with the second-unit defense, before playing in the Spring Game with no restrictions.

The linebacker competition at times has taken on a humorous vein, such as when Rainey-Sale before practice grabbed Alexander's jock strap sticking out of the back of his football pants and pulled hard, sending his teammate jumping around in uncomfortable contortions with a "wedgie."

Dealing with a high school knee injury and resulting surgery, Rainey-Sale missed the first five games of his freshman season before making his college debut and offering an impressive eight-game sample.

He showed he could cover a lot of ground, such as running 25 to 30 yards with opposing wide receivers.

For his second Husky season, Rainey Sale has put on 25 pounds to give him an even more imposing physique to go with all that natural mobility.

It's really hard not to start a guy who looks and runs like that.

What he's done: Rainey-Sale finished with 21 tackles, including a sack against Oregon. He came up with an interception against Illinois. He had 2 pass break-ups against Purdue. He demonstrated unmistakable star quality.

Starter or not: The Huskies started Rainey-Sale against Oregon to close out the regular season and against Boise State in the LA Bowl. There won't be too many occasions over the next two or three seasons in which he doesn't open the game with the No. 1 defense.