4 Young Husky Defensive Players on the Verge of Moving Up

UW co-defensive coordinator Chuck Morrell singled out this group for their unique skill sets.

SAN ANTONIO, Texas — The added benefit attached to a bowl game for the University of Washington football team is the opportunity to hold extra practices, to have the added chance to work with younger players just coming up through the ranks.

Asked to name some of the promising new faces who are currently stuck between the veterans on the roster and the new signing class coming in but on the verge of moving up, co-defensive coordinator Chuck Morrell singled out four in particular.

Tristan Dunn, Vince Nunley, Lance "Showtime" Holtzclaw and Armon Parker.

Two safeties, an edge rusher and a defensive tackle. Freshmen or redshirt freshmen. Two players who took injury redshirts and two who were limited to four outings each to preserve their eligibility.

Morrell, often generous in his praise of his defensive guys, was particularly effusive in describing the playing potential for the 6-foot-3, 314-pound Parker, twin brother to fellow UW freshman defensive tackle Jayvon Parker, both from Detroit.

Armon Parker missed the entire season after tearing an anterior cruciate knee ligament while playing basketball back home shortly after he and his sibling signed national letters of intent. While Jayvon got a chance to play a lot — seven games in all to use up his first year of eligibility — and recorded his first sack against Washington State in the Apple Cup, Armon only recently began running again in preparation for his Husky football debut during the spring. 

"Armon Parker, there's no doubt," Morrell said. "I feel very strongly he could be a premier defensive tackle. There's no doubt about it."

The coach went on to explain how this Parker might be a half step quicker than his battle-tested brother, and he was pleased with the movement shown by Jayvon Parker.

The 6-foot-4, 186-pound Dunn, a freshman safety from Sumner, Washington, brings all sorts of possibilities for maxing out an extra-long frame as a defender and playing with a high level of athleticism. He appeared in four games before redshirting.

"[I'm] really excited about Tristan Dunn," the coach said. "He made some big strides, extremely athletic. He's arguably one of the more talented athletes on the defensive side of the ball. Now it's just a matter of learning."

Holtzclaw, a freshman from Mesa, Arizona, while trying fill out his 6-foot-3, 217-pound frame, earned game time against Michigan State and Stanford before redshirting. 

"He showed some real strong flashes for us in pass rushing and that a corps component in our defense, with guys who can rush the passer," Morrell said. "I'm excited about him coming up."

Nunley, another long and lean safety at 6-foot-1 and 188 pounds and a redshirt freshman from Oakland, California, was poised for a significant depth-chart breakthrough and a lot of playing time before he was lost to an injury coming out of fall practice.

"Vince Nunley was a player I absolutely had monster expectations for this season," Morrell said. "I felt coming out of camp, he might have been our third or fourth safety. Certainly he would have played a lot of football for us."

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