Inside The Huskies

Meet the Huskies' Freaks of Nature In the Incoming Recruiting Class

UW director of player personnel Matt Doherty picked out four unusual players.

Dan Raley

Victor Sanchez Hernandez, shown here in Romania, is into martial arts as well as football.
Victor Sanchez Hernandez, shown here in Romania, is into martial arts as well as football. / Sanchez Hernandez

While everyone can claim their so-called freaks of nature during recruiting, the University of Washington took it one step further during this latest round by finding four unusual athletes who one day might line up together on the Husky defensive line.

These guys are the international martial-arts fighter, the high-end rugby player, the undefeated wrestler and the Alabama import.

Properly introduced, they are 6-foot-5, 250-pound edge rusher Victor Sanchez Hernandez from Mukilteo, Washington, and a devoted competitor in Taekwondo; 6-foot-5, 250-pound edge rusher Devin Hyde from Menlo Park, California, and heavily involved in the rugby-centric Bay Area; 6-foot-3, 315-pound defensive tackle Dominic Macon, from Happy Valley, Oregon, and a heavyweight grappler who went 33-0 and won a state championship; and 6-foot-5, 260-pound defensive tackle Caleb Smith from Birmingham, Alabama, and someone it is hoped gives the Huskies what the SEC regularly enjoys -- a monster in the middle.

"World class," said Matt Doherty, UW player personnel director, of Sanchez Hernandez, whose social-media profile shows him in Romania nearly a year ago with the American national team.

While he won't be kicking his way to get to the quarterback, Sanchez Hernandez from Kamiak High School north of Seattle was willing to subject himself to a what amounted to a personal tryout with UW defensive-line coach Jason Kaufusi to show he had football chops.

"He was humbled to the point where he knew he wanted to be here, knew he had some unanswered questions about his ability, as far as we were concerned, so he came to our camp," Doherty said. "He had Jason Kaufusi put him through three hours of drills in camp and he came out the other side with an offer in hand."

Hyde is a highly motivated athlete whose mother attended the UW, giving the Huskies an automatic in with her son. Two years ago, he turned to rugby at the suggestion of his father, who was a former player, and this left the son encouraged he could build speed and endurance with this offseason venture.

The Huskies like Hyde because he seems to understand what it will take to make himself great.

"He's a very cerebral player," Doherty said. "He's tuned into a level of skill that a of guys his age are not."

Macon picked up wrestling as a freshman in 2021and made it work for him last winter by claiming a 6A state title match in the second overtime.

"I was born to do wrestling," he said at the time.

The Huskies see that sport making him a productive football player, as well, mixing his great size with his wrestling moves.

"He comes in with an incredible, physical base, long arms, big trunk, and he's obviously very, very powerful," Doherty said. "He has the leverage game down pat in terms of the wrestling skill and resume."

UW football signee Dominic Macon won an Oregon heavyweight wrestling championship.
UW football signee Dominic Macon won an Oregon heavyweight wrestling championship. / SI

It often has been said that what separates SEC football from the rest of the country is its defensive linemen, players who are incredibly strong and quick coming out of a stance. The South produces a disproportionate number of these players and places them at FBS schools, according to Doherty.

The Huskies took this to heart and went to the state of Alabama specifically to find one of these guys and they came up with Smith.

"He's just scratching the surface in terms of what he's capable of doing," Doherty said. "I would say of anybody who I might predict, and I don't want to put undue pressure on the kid, but his ceiling is extremely high -- what he did at the high school level was impressive, but it's not anything remotely close to what I think he can do from a physical standpoint."

Freaks of nature, one and all.

For the latest UW football and basketball news, go to si.com/college/washington

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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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