2026 UW Roster - Defense

WoolleyDoog

WoolleyDoog

Swaye's Wigwam
Swaye's Wigwam
Founder's Club
UW's roster on defense is more promising to me than the offense. The DL is a massive, massive question mark but they got good production minus the pass rush last year at of rotating a lot of guys. I'll give a grade of whether I think the unit is Up, Down, or Equal to last year. Overall I like what's here and think it can build on what was a good unit under Walters in 2025.

EDGE - Equal - Jacob Lane (Sr.), Isaiah Ward (Sr.), Russell Davis II (Sr.), Logan George (Jr.), Devin Hyde (So.), Derek Colman-Brusa (Fr.), Hayden Moore (Jr.), Victor Sanchez-Hernandez (rFr.), David Schwerzal (Fr.) - This was the group I feel like most felt like upgrading in the offseason. The biggest weakness of the team was the ability to rush the passer. The only addition in the portal was an Idaho State guy who didn't really play at Ohio State last year so who knows. Lane is good against the run. Ward I think was hurt and did less than he did in 2024 and Davis is a complete what the hell? I think the staff likes Hyde so he is a wild card and DCB has big promise, though he might play inside.

DT - Down - Elinneus Davis (Jr.), Darin Conley (Jr.), Desean Watts (Jr.), Kai McClendon (So.), Omar Khan (So.), T.I. Umu-Cais (Fr.), JD Hill (Fr.), Ta'a Malu (Fr.) - Probably the shakiest unit of the group. There was a mass exodus between graduation and the portal. Davis was at worst one of the best of a good group last year and that's it. The three portal additions all feel like they should be decent but are all going to adjust to higher levels of football and dependence. Hard to feel too confident in what is here.

LB - Up - Jacob Manu (Sr.), Xe'ree Alexander (Sr.), Taariq Al-Uqdah (Sr.), Zaydrius Rainey-Sale (So.), Ramzak Fruean (Fr.), Donovan Robinson Jr. (rFr.), Ezaya Tokio (Fr.) - Easily my favorite unit on the team. There's deserved criticism about Manu playing certain games last year but he looked like the former All-Pac-12 guy when he played. Alexander was a revelation and ZRS a future star. Al-Uqdah is an interesting wild card. Great depth and top level talent here which should only get better from last year.

CB - Down - Dylan Robinson (So.), Emmanuel Karnley (Jr.), D'Aryhian Clemons (rFr.), Elias Johnson (So.), Ramonz Adams Jr. (rFr.), Rahsjon Duncan (Fr.), Jeron Jones (Fr.), Elijah Durr (Fr.), Ksani Jiles (Fr.) - There's a lot of confidence in Robinson. I mostly liked what I saw but am someone hesitant given how badly her was torched over and over by Oregon's 4/5th WR. Karnley feels like he can at least be 2024 Prysock. Depth is a big question here depending on how ready true freshmen like Duncan, Jones, and Durr are.

S - Up - Alex McLaughlin (Sr.), Rylon Dillard-Allen (So.), Rahshawn Clark (So.), CJ Christian (Sr.), Paul Mencke Jr. (So.), Gavin Day (Fr.), Rahim Wright II (So.) - Maybe my favorite group after linebacker. McLaughlin is a proven stud, RDA looks like a guy who is going to be a star and a rare big hitter, and I thought Clark was a CB but the official roster has him at safety and he looked good in 2025. Christian is an interesting wildcard and Day should play as a freshman.
 
Excellent job. I think DL and CB are a push. Butler, Thompson and Tie Tie are really the 3 DL that actually played a lot of snaps next to Davis last year. Conley is Uiungalelele, Watts is Butler and the MSU kid is Thompson. If Kahn s anything to take seriously he can take Pepa’s few snaps. Taco missed every big game UW played last year and Robinson played in his place. Good experience. Second year Robinson should be better than first year Robinson. If Karnley is in fact as good as Loadsock then CB is a push. A true frosh (Robinson) was the first off the bench last year, just like this year (Duncan).
 
Seems about right. They played well enough to beat the good teams. Offense obviously didn’t help them in big games. Had we been playing with the lead maybe the pass rush would’ve been better than it was. There was basically zero reason for opponents to take risks.
 
My doog prediction is that the pass rush will be much better with Russell Davis back (yes I'm basing that off of nothing but a UCLA game game 2 years ago) healthy and Durfee gone.

SInce we lose depth pieces to fucking Texas Tech now, maybe actually run the ball and give the defense a rest this year.
 
Yeah, I like the defense a lot better. I pretty much agree with your ratings.

I miss the days of non-stop NFL prospects at DL. DOn't it always seem to go, you don't know what you've got 'til it's gone.
 
Bob_C said:
Seems about right. They played well enough to beat the good teams. Offense obviously didn’t help them in big games. Had we been playing with the lead maybe the pass rush would’ve been better than it was. There was basically zero reason for opponents to take risks.
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It's a good point. The offense has been terrible at helping the defense out under Jedd in games against decent teams. It's especially painful because most of these decent teams have been limited offensively and if you could have just gotten up on them a bit it coudl really change the dynamic of how they had to play offensively.
 
Two biggest X-factors at edge are Russell Davis’ health and Xeree Alexander. Fisch already said recently that Alexander will be coming off the edge at times next year.

I don’t hate what we have at any position and think we will be good, but having another stud on the DL and another impact DB would be ideal. I think at least one freshman DB will be good, but it’s almost never ideal to be dependent on a freshman.
 
The defense was good last year, but it was not a championship level defense. They were borderline great at stopping the run, but a good passing team could have sliced them up, especially when Tacario was out.
 
theknowledge said:
Excellent job. I think DL and CB are a push. Butler, Thompson and Tie Tie are really the 3 DL that actually played a lot of snaps next to Davis last year. Conley is Uiungalelele, Watts is Butler and the MSU kid is Thompson. If Kahn s anything to take seriously he can take Pepa’s few snaps. Taco missed every big game UW played last year and Robinson played in his place. Good experience. Second year Robinson should be better than first year Robinson. If Karnley is in fact as good as Loadsock then CB is a push. A true frosh (Robinson) was the first off the bench last year, just like this year (Duncan).
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Taco was very good and Prysock very decent imo. No way Robinson will be as good as Taco and unlikely one of the other guys will be as good as Prysock. I think he was slightly underrated and got tuffer last year tackling

DL I'll let you know my prediction in November
 
Canadawg said:
Taco was very good and Prysock very decent imo. No way Robinson will be as good as Taco and unlikely one of the other guys will be as good as Prysock. I think he was slightly underrated and got tuffer last year tackling

DL I'll let you know my prediction in November
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Taco was great, no doubt, my point on Robinson was that he started, what, six games? He’s very talented and was CB2 against Ohio State, at Michigan and against Oregon. That’s some great experience for a young player to get going into his second year. Davis and Prysock were sophomores in 2023 against UW and I kept asking myself how the fuck Arizona scored such great looking CBs. Robinson should be like that in 2026. Don’t sleep on Karnley. I think he can do all the things Prysock did last year.
 
theknowledge said:
Taco was great, no doubt, my point on Robinson was that he started, what, six games? He’s very talented and was CB2 against Ohio State, at Michigan and against Oregon. That’s some great experience for a young player to get going into his second year. Davis and Prysock were sophomores in 2023 against UW and I kept asking myself how the fuck Arizona scored such great looking CBs. Robinson should be like that in 2026. Don’t sleep on Karnley. I think he can do all the things Prysock did last year.
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And to Robinsons credit he might not be the absolute shut down guy Taco was at his best but he seems to be very physical. Could see him being used on blitzes and a sure tackler
 
Canadawg said:
Taco was very good and Prysock very decent imo. No way Robinson will be as good as Taco and unlikely one of the other guys will be as good as Prysock. I think he was slightly underrated and got tuffer last year tackling

DL I'll let you know my prediction in November
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Prysock had a pretty good year. CB play last year was good. Taco was very good when he played. I think it’s the weakest position group entering the year.
 
Canadawg said:
Taco was very good and Prysock very decent imo. No way Robinson will be as good as Taco and unlikely one of the other guys will be as good as Prysock. I think he was slightly underrated and got tuffer last year tackling

DL I'll let you know my prediction in November
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Taco played 1/2 of the season. I'm not sure I saw any glaringly obvious issues with the secondary when he didn't play, but I could be wrong.
 
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