Inside The Huskies

Seeking Elusive Second 2026 Edge, Huskies Still in Running for Texas Target

Landon Barnes has the UW among four schools he's focused on, along with LSU, Ohio State and Ole Miss.
Dan Raley|
Landon Barnes entertains Ole Miss coaches at his Texas home.
Landon Barnes entertains Ole Miss coaches at his Texas home. | Ole Miss

For the University of Washington, finding a second edge rusher for its Class of 2026, to go with Derek Colman-Brusa, has left everyone involved, well, just a little on edge.

From Seattle's First Hill to Georgia's second-largest city over the past week, the Huskies have received rejection slips from desired edge targets.

Locally produced 3-star David Schwerzel went with UCLA over the Huskies while 5-star Tristian Givens must have been given an oil well or some such enticement to pledge to Texas A&M, and this was after he heard from just about everyone in the fan base on why he should play in Montlake.

Now comes a 4-star Texas target named Landon Barnes, who hails from Duncanville, affectionately known as D'Ville to its residents, which sits in the southwest Dallas suburbs.

On Tuesday, Barnes shared with On3 at a Rivals camp with 247Sports no doubt waiting in the wings listening in on how he's focusing on LSU, Ohio State, Ole Miss and Washington leading up to his decision.

However, the 6-foot-4, 245-pound Barnes took his official visit to Montlake way back on April 25, which doesn't bode well for a school expecting to land his commitment.

What's interesting about Barnes' recruitment is he canceled out of a recent visit to Georgia -- or else the Bulldogs' filled up their edge quota and dropped out -- and he similarly has gone in a different direction from the major players in his neighborhood, Texas and SMU.

Either way, Barnes has a lot of credentials after piling up 43 tackles, 12 tackles for loss, 4 sacks, 3 pass break-ups, 2 fumble recoveries and and a fumble recovery for a 13-1 Duncanville High team that advanced to the 6A state semifinals.

The Huskies have had a fairly productive 2026 recruiting season with 15 commitments so far, yet landing that second edge rusher has been a decided challenge.

Maybe D'Ville will have a solution for the Huskies.

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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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