Injury Updates and Defensive Adjustments for Washington

Front Seven Health

Also on Monday this week, Fisch announced that linebacker Buddah Al-Uqdah will be out for the remainder of the season. He suffered a knee injury during the Apple Cup. In his replacement, Jacob Manu made his first start as a Husky against the Buckeyes. He played 29 snaps in the game, made three tackles, and had two stops. “We expect him to be able to take more this week [against Maryland],” Fisch said on Monday. “That was his first game back, so we had him on a 30-play rep count…and he played very well.” Fisch is also optimistic that true freshman Zaydrius Rainey-Sale will be available this week against the Terrapins. “I think we’re very close with Zaydrius,” Fisch said on Monday. “So that’s exciting to see Zaydrius back. He’ll be practicing this week full go.” The former top high school player in the state of Washington has been recovering from a knee injury. It’s sounding like there’s a chance he’ll see the field for the first time this weekend. Zach Durfee left the Ohio State game with an arm injury, and Fisch said they were looking at his elbow this week. It’s still unclear how long the EDGE rusher will be out. However, Fisch feels good about the five players that they have available to play the two EDGE positions. It includes, of course, Jacob Lane, who has started all four games at EDGE/outside linebacker. They also have Isaiah Ward, Deshawn Lynch, Xe’ree Alexander, and Hayden Moore, who can fill in at that spot.

Updates in the Secondary

Defensive back Rahshawn Clark is fully cleared and expected to be back for this weekend’s trip to Maryland after being ruled out for the Ohio State game. Tacario Davis did not play after being listed as questionable prior to the Ohio State game. Fisch described his injury as a rib-area injury, but he provided some encouraging news regarding the status of the 6’-4” cornerback. “We’re hopeful that Tacario will be back as well.” With Davis sidelined against the Buckeyes, Dylan Robinson earned his first start at cornerback. He lined up opposite Ephesians Prysock with Leroy Bryant at nickelback. The true freshman played 61 snaps against the Buckeyes and ended up with the best coverage grade of anyone on the defense in that game. Robinson was targeted three times, giving up three catches for 43 yards. “Dylan did a great job of doing the defense, so we’re excited about Dylan.”

Three-Safety Look

Bryant started and played 23 snaps at nickelback, allowing five catches. The Husky defense utilized a lot of three-safety looks as an alternative to their base nickel package. Several times against the Buckeyes, Makell Esteen, Rylon Dillard-Allen, and Alex McLaughlin were on the field at once. “In some form, I kind of went to nickelback,” Esteen said after the game. “We trust our safeties in the game, put me, RDA, and Alex in, and I feel like we had a good time and played a good game.” Esteen and McLaughlin each played all 64 defensive snaps, and Dillard-Allen saw 43 defensive snaps in the game. Fisch said that the three-safety look was both a schematic design to combat the Ohio State offense and a product of the injuries to the defense. He said he also wanted to give Julian Sayin different looks than what had previously been on film. Fisch reiterated that the goal of the defense was to keep everything in front of them. Washington allowed just three explosive pass plays on the day. Two went for 18 yards and one went for 19 yards. It allowed zero plays of 20-plus yards. “It wasn’t a game where there was a lot of chunk plays,” he said. “We felt that the three safety look was going to make sure that if we wanted to get a double on somebody, we could. But we also were going to be able to have the ability to put a roof on the defense.” Main Photo: James Snook-Imagn Images