UW Fresh Start (No. 29): Irvin Had a Chance to Start, Deserves Another

The Husky safety opened games against Montana and Michigan, but that was it.

Dan Raley | Mar 10, 2022

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Washington Huskies

Safety Julius Irvin was healthy at last, ready to play significant minutes for teh University of Washington, all set to take advantage of those rich NFL bloodlines.

The then-Huskies coaching staff headed up by Jimmy Lake provided that assessment throughout spring and fall camps.

However, the primetime opportunity for the 6-foot-1, 185-pound Irvin lasted exactly two games.

The son of the legendary Los Angeles Rams cornerback Leroy Irvin started only against Montana and Michigan.

The Huskies dropped both outings and the coaching staff, no doubt left greatly uncomfortable by this, began to move players around like chess pieces.

Irvin, for instance.

He played in every game thereafter last season, but he never started again.

Both UW safety positions were in a state of flux all fall, with seven different players drawing game-opening assignments, but Irvin's time as a No. 1 guy had come and gone.

He wasn't injured, not in trouble, hardly a rookie.

In his first game coming off the bench, Irvin intercepted an Arkansas State pass and returned it 34 yards.

He had four tackles at Arizona.

Irvin was ready to go every time he was called upon.

Pass Theft :: Joe Nicholson/USA TODAY Sports

Julius Irvin intercepts a pass against Arkansas State.

Julius Irvin pursues a Michigan receiver.

High and Low :: Kirthmon F. Dozier/USA TODAY Sports

Julius Irvin and Edefuan Ulofoshio make a tackle at Michigan.

Giving Chase :: Jennifer Buchanan/USA TODAY Sports

Julius Irvin pursues and Arizona receiver.

Julius Irvin hard at work.

Julius Irvin and Dom Hampton played a lot together in 2021.

This just goes to show how much of a college football fine line there is from starting and not starting, from one coach's opinion to the next, from winning and losing.

For some players such as Irvin, a coaching change — in this case, from Jimmy Lake to Kalen DeBoer — can be a welcome thing.

A month until spring practice, we're offering intel and observations gathered on the UW football personnel in a series of stories on every scholarship player from No. 0 to 99. We'll review each Husky's previous starting experience, if applicable, and determine what comes next under DeBoer.

As with any leadership change, it's a new football beginning for everyone, including the Huskies' No. 29 on defense.

Julius Irvin has four UW seasons and 24 games under his belt.

And those pair of fleeting starts.

He's no longer a young, inexperienced player.

It's make it or break time for him in Seattle.

He finished with a dozen tackles in those dozen games throughout 2021, and a pass break-up to go with that Arkansas State interception.

Irvin has a new head coach in DeBoer and new secondary coaches in Julius Brown and Chuck Morrell.

It's a chance to start over, a chance to start again.

UW Starter or Not: Early in his Husky football career, Irvin dealt with shoulder and knee injuries that kept him back. According to the previous coaching staff, he'd received a clean bill of health. It's still not clear why Lake and Company didn't give Irvin another start at safety last season, especially with so much turnover at the position. After all, he's the son of the great Leroy Irvin, an NFL player known as "the Iceman," someone who intercepted 35 passes and returned 5 for touchdowns. Julius might be an ice chip off the old block. Since he's been a starter, Irvin very well could become a starter again, but he's got work to do. He need 34 interceptions to catch dad.

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Published Mar 10, 2022

DAN RALEY

Dan Raley has worked for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, as well as for MSN.com and Boeing, the latter as a global aerospace writer. His sportswriting career spans four decades and he's covered University of Washington football and basketball during much of that time. In a working capacity, he's been to the Super Bowl, the NBA Finals, the MLB playoffs, the Masters, the U.S. Open, the PGA Championship and countless Final Fours and bowl games.