On March 29 — 30 days before he was selected by the Kansas City Chiefs with the No. 21 overall pick in the 2022 NFL draft — Trent McDuffie stood in the Dempsey Center, surrounded by former teammates and media members and a smattering of NFL scouts. A former four-star recruit who started 26 of a possible 29 games at UW, McDuffie was the obvious headliner of the Huskies’ pro day.
He was also further proof of former head coach Jimmy Lake’s prolific process, one that resulted in 11 DB draft picks from 2014 to 2022.
But without Lake — and McDuffie, and Kyler Gordon, and Brendan Radley-Hiles, and Elijah Molden, and Budda Baker, and on and on and on — would UW’s DB factory fall into disrepair?
“All the guys in the DB room know what the standard is. It’s kind of just ingrained in us. It’s just our DNA,” McDuffie said at the time. “They’re going to continue the culture, DBU, all that. Because you just look back at the years past, and they can just watch everybody that’s been in front of them and take what they’ve done.
“We’re always here. We’re always going to be around. We’re always here for the freshmen who want questions answered, things like that.”
Six months later, there’s far more questions than answers.
And McDuffie isn’t walking back through that door.
In UW’s last two games — both losses — the Huskies surrendered 73% completions with 556 passing yards, six passing touchdowns and a lone interception. They rank sixth in the Pac-12 in opponent completion percentage (63.3%), seventh in passing defense (234.7 yards allowed per game), 10th in opponent pass efficiency rating (146.19), 11th in opponent yards per pass attempt (7.8) and tied for last in opponent pass touchdowns (13).
Simply put, UW’s secondary isn’t as deep or talented as it’s been in the past. Lake and Co. signed 12 four-star defensive backs in a six-class span, from 2014 to 2019. Of those 12, six were drafted, just one transferred out (safety Brandon McKinney) and three remain on the roster (Julius Irvin, Kamren Fabiculanan and Asa Turner).
The Huskies signed just two four-star DBs in their last three classes — Jacobe Covington in 2020 and Tristan Dunn in 2022 — and Covington transferred to USC in May. (UW coach Kalen DeBoer, by the way, admitted Monday that “we had some changes to our roster that were unforeseen,” clearly referring to Covington.)
It’s true, recruiting rankings aren’t everything — but they obviously matter. Of UW’s 11 drafted DBs in the Lake Era, seven were ranked as four-star recruits.
When UW led the nation in pass defense (142.9 yards per game) and opponent yards per pass attempt (5.4) last fall, its starting secondary featured four-star corner McDuffie, four-star corner Kyler Gordon, four-star nickel Brendan Radley-Hiles, four-star safety Asa Turner and three-star safety Alex Cook.
Injuries have altered the equation as well. Three of UW’s five secondary starters in the season opener — corners Jordan Perryman and Mishael Powell and safety Asa Turner — have missed a combined nine games. Redshirt freshman safety Vince Nunley (an expected contributor) is out for the season, cornerback Elijah Jackson missed the first five games and veteran safety Cameron Williams (though healthy) informed the staff prior to the UCLA game of his decision to redshirt.
When asked Monday why UW played 11 different defensive backs — including true freshman safety Tristan Dunn and walk-on Sean Toomey-Stout — against ASU, co-defensive coordinator Chuck Morrell said simply: “Necessity.”
“Well, obviously we’re taking some tough lessons right now,” Morrell later added. “I look throughout the course of the season, and there’s never any excuses at all. The standard is the standard of what we need to uphold and maintain. But through six weeks, we’ve played six different starting lineups out of necessity. I think the biggest thing is, we need to now get paid off with some of those guys who have had to be on the field (producing better performances).”
After Covington’s exit, UW tried to add DB depth via the transfer portal this summer, but DeBoer said “we either didn’t see a quality enough player that could come help us, or just didn’t feel character-wise it was someone that would help us with building our culture.”
There are other elements as well. Morrell insisted Monday that UW’s DBs understand the newly installed system, saying “I can take any guy into the film room right now, and they know our scheme. They know it inside and out.”
But are they able to execute it, considering the amount of man-to-man coverage said system requires?
“It’s definitely a lot more man coverage for the safeties,” Cook said Tuesday. “We’re playing man anywhere from five yards to 10 yards, 11 yards off (the ball). It’s just something we aren’t really used to. It’s still something we’re trying to perfect, get better at. Definitely for myself, I’m trying to get better at that.”
The new system, compounded by constantly shuffling personnel, have yielded communication issues as well. Morrell said UW’s defensive communication “wasn’t even close to where it needed to be” against UCLA, before improving last weekend at ASU. Cook added “that’s really the main piece, recognizing the formations and being able to anticipate stuff so you can make the calls.”
Which is difficult to do with young players and countless personnel permutations.
“Obviously Meesh (Powell), Jordan (Perryman), Asa (Turner), Dom (Hampton) and I, Kam (Fabiculanan), we spent a lot of time together in the offseason and we just build that bond, that chemistry,” Cook said. “We were making calls when nobody was around, going through gamelike situations with each other. For new guys to step in and change that chemistry, it’s a little different.”
Meanwhile, UW’s pass rushers have been unable to replicate their eight-sack success against Stanford — managing one combined sack in the two games since. Morrell said “those (edges) are still winning at the line of scrimmage, but at times the ball is coming out extremely quickly. I think that’s a methodology people are using the protect the quarterback right now.”
The result is opposing offenses motivated to be aggressive to match Michael Penix Jr. and Co., and quarterbacks unbothered by the Husky pass rush. Reinforcements may be a year away, as UW has verbal commitments from a pair of 2023 four-star DBs — cornerback Curley Reed and safety Vincent Holmes.
But for now, can a struggling secondary regain its swagger against Arizona on Saturday?
“We tell them after the game that we love them and we believe in them. It’s that simple,” Morrell said. “We really are trying to create a culture of letting the guys know we really care about them individually, even at times when their performance suffers. ‘The next day is going to be a new opportunity for you.’
“I just saw it yesterday in the film room. We’re going through the details of the mistakes that we made down south, and guys were really locked in. Then we go out and go through a walk-through and guys are helping coach each other and correct each other from the mistakes that were made, and they were talking through the situations. To me, that’s a huge sign of positivity.”