10 Things to Know About the UW Defense From the Spring Game

If 15 spring football practices demonstrated anything, the University of Washington appears to have made a noticeable upgrade defensively -- even with five or six potential starters sitting out of Friday night's Spring Game.

The change of hands in defensive coordinator to former Purdue head coach Ryan Walters from the departed Steve Belichick provided early positive returns, with the Huskies demonstrating they can be much more turnover-minded in approach.

Yes, it's only spring ball, but the talent level among the pass rushers, tacklers and coverage people has grown as these guys have matured under Walters' direction and promising new guys have been added.

Here are 10 things we learned about the Husky defense coming out of the Spring Game:

1. 4 interceptions. Since two of the NFL's richest defensive backs in Trent McDuffie and Kyler Gordon left in 2021, this supposed DBU simply hasn't piled up a lot of turnovers. On Friday night, the Huskies came up with four interceptions, one each by cornerbacks Rylon Dillard-Allen and Elias Johnson and safeties Alex McLaughlin and CJ Christian.

Dillard-Allen, a freshman, had a 30-yard touchdown return. McLaughlin and Christian, transfers from Northern Arizona and Florida International, respectively, had 80- and 65-yard returns. Johnson, a redshirt freshman, made a diving grab.

For comparative purposes, the UW had 8 interceptions over 13 games in 2024 by five players and all of them are gone. Just one of those picks was made by a cornerback, Thaddeus Dixon, now at North Carolina.

2. Presley's Exit. Caleb Presley, the former UW corner who left and has transferred to San Jose State, publicly never gave a reason for exiting the program. Yet the Huskies' young collection of playmaking DBs in Rahshawn Clark, Ramonz Adams Jr., D'Aryhian Clemons, Dillard-Allen and Johnson, all freshmen or redshirt freshmen, might have had something to do with it.

3. Bryce Butler. This 6-foot-5, 315-pound junior defensive tackle from Canada, Toronto specifically, quietly went about his business this spring establishing himself up front. He played in just four games last season. He's in the middle of the rotation now.

On Friday, Butler, a former Kansas JC player, broke through to crash into freshman quarterback Dash Beierly and cause Dillard-Allen's pick-6. Earlier, he pulled down speedy running back Adam Mohammed with a diving tackle.

4. Long Distance. McLaughlin, the Northern Arizona newcomer and a first-team All-Big Sky selection last season, went 80 yards with his interception -- and it would have been 100 had he not been pulled down by running back Jordan Washington, possibly the team's fastest player.

This aggressive and instinctive player, who also had a pass break-up on Friday, might not let anyone get in his way in securing a starting role in the fall.