SEATTLE – Without senior cornerback Jordan Miller, who remains on track recovering from a leg injury suffered against Arizona State last October, sophomore Keith Taylor stepped up this spring in the eyes of UW defensive coordinator Jimmy Lake.
“Hey, It’s going to be a competitive training camp,” Lake told Rivals after the Huskies concluded spring practice Saturday with the spring preview. “Competitive training camp, and we have three freshmen coming in as well. I know they’re chomping at the bit to learn the defense, learn all the techniques. It’s going to be a fun training camp to watch for those guys.”
Lake named Taylor, along with senior linebacker Ben Burr-Kirven and junior “BUCK” edge-rusher Benning Potoa’e as three players that came to mind as consistent standouts over the 15 practices between late March and mid April.
The three 2018 signees who will join the secondary in August; four-star Anaheim (Calif.) Servite safety Julius Irvin, four-star Everett (Wash.) Archbishop Murphy cornerback Kyler Gordon; and three-star Peoria (Ariz.) Centennial athlete/cornerback Dominique Hampton.
Julius, the youngest son of 10-year NFL veteran and four-time Los Angeles Rams All-Pro corner LeRoy Irvin, finished ranked as the No. 95 overall prospect in the 2018 class on Rivals. Gordon, a 5’10, 175-pound prospect, was the No. 27 ranked CB and No. 3 in-state prospect, behind now-freshman quarterback Jacob Sirmon and four-star Florida State signee Tre’Shaun Harrison.
The commitment from Irvin was the first of two head-to-head recruiting victories for Washington over Alabama, the other coming when four-star linebacker Ale Kaho picked the Huskies over the Tide, ending an 18-month pledge to Brigham Young University when he flipped his decision last December.
Hampton, an athletic 6-2 corner could provide the most competition of the three incoming freshman with his versatility allowing him to have a role at several positions in the secondary.
“The cream is going to rise to the top. That’s what competition does,” Lake said of his expectations for the fall. “We want to keep stacking players in here at every single position, and let the cream rise to the top. It will make us all better.”
Adding three freshmen to the current crop of talent in the DB room by proxy makes the Huskies better. That says a lot for a position group that has only two seniors, Miller and safety JoJo McIntosh, on scholarship in 2018.
Taylor was not the only sophomore to see extended playing time this spring. Elijah Molden, the son of eight-year NFL vet and Oregon Ducks DB Alex Molden, picked of UW QB’s six times to win the “Best Hands” ball, given to the player who records the most interceptions during spring ball.
Molden tallied the clincher during the 7-on-7 period before UW went to a live scrimmage to end Saturday’s open practice. Isaiah Gilchrist, another sophomore, picked off Sirmon for the only official INT of the scrimmage.
The defense won the scrimmage after sophomore RB Sean McGrew was stopped short at the goal-line on 4th down. As players on defense celebrated their 37-33 victory for the Purple team, a handful of Huskies offensive coaches and players despited the spot of the ball.
There was no video review.
Nevertheless, Lake said he will review the film with the rest of the coaching staff this weekend before cutting up clips for players to watch over the summer. With a couple missed tackles immediately visible Saturday, Lake is open to not see one thing in particular in the review session.
“Really what we’re looking for is good fundamentals. Good coverage. Guys striking, getting off blocks, tackling,” Lake said. “We missed a couple tackles out there. We also let the quarterback scramble around a little too much, just looking at it from the field.
“But at the end of the day we just want to see how many missed tackles we had, and then hopefully no assignment busts. We played just a lot of vanilla calls and we wanted the guys to be able to execute those.”
