Kam Fab Came Out of the Shadows to Land Starting Safety Job

The redshirt freshman seemed mired in the nickelback competition with Oklahoma transfer Bookie Radley-Hiles.

The practice video below randomly focused on second-team All-Pac-12 cornerback Trent McDuffie for an instance while he worked his way through a University of Washington spring football drill.

Seemingly out of nowhere, Kamren Fabiculanan popped into view.

McDuffie and the player known as "Kam Fab" together broke into a choreographed dance, matching each other step for step, dip for dip, gliding wings for gliding wings, as if they'd always been entertainers together.

This is what happened to the Husky starting lineup, too. To outsiders, Kam Fab showed up without fanfare, easing into a No. 1 safety role when outsiders mostly thought he was a nickelback.

So long and lean at 6-foot-1 and 190 pounds and possessing equal parts charisma and swagger, the California import might have been the biggest surprise starter when coach Jimmy Lake unveiled his lineups for Saturday's opener against Montana. 

Yet this was the case only because the Husky coaches diligently auditioned the redshirt freshman everywhere else in the secondary before settling on him as a No. 1 safety. 

"We've got him switching around," UW defensive-backs coach Will Harris said during spring practice. "He's played corner, he's played nickel, he's played safety for us. That's what we're doing it for — is to find the best fit for him."

In the end, Fabiculanan, who has appeared in just one game in his fledgling Husky career, and sophomore Julius Irvin won the back-row jobs on the defense. They beat out former safety starters Asa Turner, Cam Williams and Alex Cook, plus spring standout Dominique Hampton. 

Irvin seemed to make his move for regular time right after fall camp opened, receiving a lot of first-unit reps, and he was talked up a lot, so he was no surprise. 

Kam Fab, however, more often battled Oklahoma transfer Bookie Radley-Hiles at nickelback before the UW coaches decided they had to start both of these guys in the secondary against Montana.

"He's definitely someone who knows this defense inside and out," McDuffie said. "I feel like he's one of those guys that I almost compete with, like do I know this defense better than Kam Fab?"

McDuffie knows Kam Fab inside and out, too. They were roommates as freshmen in 2019, both from Southern California. 

Kam Fab comes from Camarillo, California, located halfway between Los Angeles and Santa Barbara, where he grew up as a video-game fanatic and a dedicated surfer. At Westlake High school, he was described as highly analytical with a smoldering intensity as a football player.

Kam Fabiculanan had 16 scholarship offers.  / UW Athletics

Fabiculanan was a 4-star recruit who was so promising as a defensive back he drew 16 scholarship offers, among them Georgia, Nebraska, Vanderbilt and most of the Pac-12. He chose the Huskies over Stanford.

He uniquely is one of two Asian-Americans on the Husky football roster, sharing that distinction with starting center Luke Wattenberg.

And now he, too, is a UW starter.

"He's someone we can just trust on the defense," McDuffie said. "When he's out there, I know for a fact he knows what he's doing. Since spring and over fall camp, he's been making plays every single day and coaches like to reward that. I think it'll be really good for us."

More impromptu two-man dance steps are on the way.

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