Choosing a Husky Starting Lineup: Elite UW Corners Expected to Play Right Away
Fresh out of high school, Desmond Trufant became a starting cornerback by the fourth game of his University of Washington football career.
The true freshman never came out of the lineup again.
Trufant started nine games that season in 2009 and every outing thereafter, 47 in all over four seasons, before becoming an NFL first-round draft pick.
Jermaine Smith started 39 games for the Huskies at cornerback, beginning in 1996 when he was a redshirt freshman pulling 10 opening assignments .
It would have been more but a knee injury sat Smith down for nearly half a season as a senior.
Either way, these were two of the most precocious players to ever line up as a Washington cornerback, a position always stacked with talent and as competitive as any for the Huskies year in and year out.
Trufant and Smith were four-year starters. Capable and dependable from the outset. The best of the best.
As we choose a Husky starting lineup in advance of this pandemic-delayed season opener coming in a month, we complete the cornerback corps, choosing the last of the three first-teamers.
The guy we have in mind started two more games than Trufant as a true freshman and beat Smith onto the field by 12 months.
Those type of numbers simply spell out greatness.
Of the other veteran cornerbacks in the middle of the competition, Elijah Molden didn't start a UW game until he was a sophomore, nor did Keith Taylor. Kyler Gordon, one of the Huskies' most athletically talented players, started a couple of times as a redshirt freshman cornerback before giving up the job ... to this guy.
Of course, we're talking about Trent McDuffie.
An 11-game starter.
As a true freshman.
Aa another one of those guys who won't be coming out of the UW lineup before his time is up unless the NFL beckons.
Following is our breakdown of McDuffie, who joins Molden and Gordon as starters, and our overall look at the cornerback position:
Cornerback candidates: Trent McDuffie, 5-11, 192, sophomore; Keith Taylor, 6-3, 196, senior; Kyler Gordon, 6-0, 195, sophomore; Elijah Jackson, 6-0, 182, freshman; Kamren Fabiculanen, 6-1, 186, redshirt freshman; James Smith, 6-1, 182, freshman.
Starting experience: Molden, 15 starts; Taylor, 15 starts; McDuffie, 11 starts; Gordon, 4 starts.
Our selection: McDuffie. He wants to be great. While young guys usually need time to get comfortable or beat out older guys in the Husky secondary — see Gordon — UW coaches couldn't hold McDuffie back. He's a big-play guy who relies on exceptional speed to put him in position to create turnovers. He forced and recovered a fumble against BYU. He returned an interception 29 yards against Washington State. In between, he made very few mistakes for a young guy. He's on a fast track to be another NFL first-rounder on the order of Trufant, Marcus Peters and Kevin King.
Other options: Of our three starting corners, Molden and McDuffie are immovable forces. In our mind, Gordon and Taylor will battle for the third spot, with Gordon's athleticism returning him to the starting lineup. However, Jimmy Lake, the new Husky head coach, former defensive coordinator and one-time DB chief recruiter and mentor, keeps cautioning everyone that he has brought in freshmen, similar to McDuffie, who can play and even start right away. That pronouncement would bode well for Jackson and Smith. Fabiculanen, long and lean for a cover guy, is ready to show what he can do.
Greatest Husky CB of the decade: Desmond Trufant. He's started more games for the Huskies at the defensive NFL money position than anyone else. He turned in consecutive seasons of 9, 13, 13 and 12 starts. No redshirt season for him. He hails from a family tree of high-level cornerbacks, following brothers Marcus and Isaiah into the NFL.
Other legendary UW CBs: Marcus Peters started 27 games and intercepted 11 passes, and was a first-round NFL pick in 2015, and has scored 7 times on defense in the pros; Vestee Jackson collected 13 interceptions and started 36 games in 1983-85, and was a second-round draft pick and led the NFL in pass thefts with 8 in 1988; Walter Bailey scored twice on interceptions for the 1991 national championship team; Dana Hall was a 31-game starter and first-round draft pick off the 1991 national championship team; Byron Murphy played only the 2017 and 2018 seasons for the Huskies, but he earned Pac-12 championship game MVP honors and scored on a 66-yard interception return as a sophomore, before turning pro.
The UW Starting Lineup:
Left tackle — Jaxson Kirkland
Left guard — Ulumoo Ale
Center — Luke Wattenberg
Right guard — Corey Luciano
Right tackle — Henry Bainivalu
Tight end — Cade Otton
Tight end — Jacob Kizer
Wide receiver — Puka Nacua
Wide receiver — Ty Jones
Running back — Richard Newton
Quarterback —
Kicker —
Punter —
Outside linebacker — Laiatu Latu
Defensive tackle — Tuli Letuligasenoa
Defensive tackle — Josiah Bronson
Outside linebacker — Sav'ell Smalls
Inside linebacker — Edefuan Ulofoshio
Inside linebacker — Miki Ah You
Cornerback — Kyler Gordon
Cornerback — Trent McDuffie
Nickel back — Elijah Molden
Strong safety —
Free safety —
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