Washington Football: Huskies have deepest secondary in the nation for 2018
Few teams can boast the amount of returning defensive talent in 2018 than Washington football has, especially among all the defensive backs.
Washington football put together a premier defense in the Pac-12 last year, as the top ranked statistical group in the conference. This defensive group returns nine of its starters from 2017, including every key piece of the secondary that comes back healthy for spring drills in 2018.
The first name to watch in the Huskies secondary is the standout rising sophomore cornerback that was tied for the team lead in interceptions in 2017, Byron Murphy. The interception numbers were pretty evenly spread throughout Washington’s defense, with 15 total for the team. Not a single player managed more than two of the team’s 15 interceptions in what amounted to a well-rounded defensive effort.
As it pertains to Murphy’s 2017 stat line, the interception numbers are skewed due to injury issues that caused him to miss a lot of time. Murphy played in only six games last year, but still finished 2017 tied for the team lead in picks.
Other starters to watch in the Huskies secondary through spring and the regular season includes the talented safety duo of Taylor Rapp and JoJo McIntosh. We’ll see Rapp and McIntosh playing on Sundays here pretty soon. However, they’ll anchor what is a very solid UW defense across the board, not just in the secondary.
Starting in the opposite corner spot of Murphy in 2018 should be rising redshirt junior Austin Joyner. After a breakout campaign in 2017, Joyner looks to further improve on a career year that featured 6.0 tackles for loss and 2.0 sacks from the cornerback position.
Most teams would love to have the cornerbacks set to be backups at the start of the 2018 regular season, as their full-time starters. Rising senior Jordan Miller was one of the two Huskies tied with Murphy in interceptions, in limited playing time. The other backup corner is a rising junior that should still get a good amount of playing time in 2018 and also led the team in pass deflections in 2017, Myles Bryant.
UW has around eight defensive backs on the roster that would make quality starters for most other FBS programs around the country. If head coach Chris Petersen experiences the same injury difficulties he had with the Huskies in 2017, this depth will come in handy.
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Either way, the Huskies could have multiple All-Americans on the defensive side of the ball by the end of 2018. Also watch out for a pair of rising seniors at linebacker in Ben Burr-Kirven and Tevis Bartlett who could also help spearhead the Pac-12’s best defense in 2018. The secondary is the staple for the Huskies’ defense in what could be another run to a Pac-12 Championship.