How McLaughlin Proved Fisch Was Wrong About Him

Originally posted on Washington Huskies on SI
By Dan Raley | Last updated Dec 8, 2025 11:58 AM ET

Sitting with Alex McLaughlin and his parents at their home in Chandler, Arizona, then University of Arizona football coach Jedd Fisch explained what he was offering.

It was a preferred walk-on agreement, not a scholarship. It required Alex to pay his own way through school.

Fisch broke it down to the safety with the long red hair from Hamilton High School -- a place that answered to the nickname Huskies and would prove ironic -- how McLaughlin would have a chance to earn a scholarship after a year at the school in Tucson.

Fisch likely didn't give him the odds of this actually happening, which weren't great at all. Yet McLaughlin knew all this and had an alternate plan in mind.

"He said, 'You know I'm going to go earn my scholarship somewhere else and hopefully you'll come back and get me,' " Fisch recalled.

Three years later, McLaughlin just concluded his first regular season at the University of Washington playing for Fisch with Saturday's LA Bowl against Boise State to come on Saturday.

The 6-foot-2, 200-pound defensive back not only started all 12 games for these Huskies, he leads them in tackles with 89 and has been a defensive playmaker with nterception and fumble runbacks for touchdowns.

McLaughlin went 59 yards with a pass theft to score against Washington State in the Apple Cup and picked up a loose ball on a botched fake field goal at UCLA and went 47 yards to the end zone.

Now, about that preferred walk-on offer. What was Fisch thinking?

"He's 100 percent better than I initially thought," the coach conceded. "We miss in recruiting sometimes."

McLaughlin was able to land a scholarship from Northern Arizona, an FCS school, and was an instant starter and a two-time All-Big Sky selection.

Instead of heading to Tucson some 90 miles south of his home, he went north to Flagstaff and NAU, which was 170 miles away.

He next reconnected with Fisch, who was now at Washington and, yes, had a scholarship waiting for him this time.

"He was right," Fisch said. "He bet on himself and won. I loved that about him."

Notably a big hitter, McLaughlin has shown he belongs at the highest level of college football and has not been compelled to say 'I told you so' to Fisch and gone elsewhere feeling disrespected in any way.

"I just think Alex has done everything you could ever ask for in terms of, 'Hey I believe in myself,' and he's shown that," Fisch said. "It's been super cool seeing what he can do and he's only going to get better next year.

"We're grateful and excited he decided to give us a second chance."

This article first appeared on Washington Huskies on SI and was syndicated with permission.

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