Shaw Is Latest Member of Indiana Football Pipeline to UW

The nickelback has come from the Hoosiers to the Huskies, just like Michael Penix Jr. and others.

The line of one-time Indiana football assistants and players who recently ended up at the University of Washington is a long one and consists of former head coach Kalen DeBoer, co-defensive coordinator William Inge, tight-ends coach Nick Sheridan and quarterback Michael Penix Jr. , and now current nickelback Jordan Shaw.

Everyone in this Midwest-to-Northwest football pipeline is fairly well acquainted with each other with the exception of Shaw. For instance, he hasn't met Penix.

"I never actually like talked to him; we follow each other on instagram," Shaw said. "It's crazy how we both made the same move."

The sleek 6-foot-1, 180-pound defensive back from Downey, California, left after Indiana fired his coach, Tom Allen, but he didn't immediately turn to the Huskies.

Shaw first transferred to Arizona and then drew his scholarship release and followed coach Jedd Fisch to Washington, ending up back in the Big Ten after thinking he was leaving it. Admittedly, he couldn't have told anyone that the Wildcats were headed to the Big 12.

"It's crazy," he said on Tuesday. "I went to A-Z. What conference are they going to?"

Seven practices into spring ball, Shaw finds himself in Montlake in competition with junior Dyson McCutcheon and sophomore Tristan Dunn for nickel time, showing himself to be a fairly confident if not feisty player so far.

He got into the Huskies' first spring skirmish, pushing and shoving freshman wide receiver Jason Robinson Jr. after they both came down in a hot-tempered tangle.

Jordan Shaw is an Indiana transfer working at UW nickel.

Skylar Lin Visuals

A conversation with Shaw reveals that this latest UW coaching staff has dubbed his nickelback position "the Star" after two years of DeBoer's guys calling it "the Husky."

He also was previously offered a UW scholarship while he was in high school at St. Pius X - St. Matthias Academy, but with the passage of time he couldn't name the DeBoer coach who was behind it.

These days, he answers to new UW safeties coach Vinnie Sunseri, who played the position at Alabama and for the New England Patriots, before becoming an NFL coach in Foxboro. Shaw is learning his trade from him.

"I'm trying to improve to being more patient on the line and just like waiting for the play to develop before you react, because my coaches say, 'When you get greedy, you get got,' " he said. "I'm trying to jump stuff quick. but i feel everything is going smooth."

As for Indiana, Shaw appeared in four games and started two in 2023, opening against Wisconsin and Illinois, and picking up 9 tackles against the Badgers. He had a positive experience in Bloomington, a place the UW will visit this coming season for an October game.

"I feel like it was good." he said of his stint with the Hoosiers. "I feel like going to indiana prepared me for college life. It taught me how to watch film and wait my turn and prepare myself, so when opportunity came, it was good."

Shaw might not be done dealing with this UW-Indiana football connection either. His former Hoosiers teammate Philip Blidi, a defensive tackle, is now in the transfer portal and visited Seattle two weeks ago.

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