Inside The Huskies

Huskies Add More Speed to Defense with Epperson Commit

The 4-star linebacker was pursued by Penn State, Arkansas, USC, among others.

Dan Raley

Jonathan Epperson runs the ball for Auburn Riverside High.
Jonathan Epperson runs the ball for Auburn Riverside High. / Twitter

Jonathan Epperson goes by the nickname "Epp." if he's as talented on the football field as people say, he might consider changing it to "Epic."

On Monday, the 6-foot, 210-pound linebacker from Auburn Riverside High School south of Seattle announced he is committed to the University of Washington, as a 4-star recruit who also received scholarship offers from the likes of Arkansas, Georgia Tech, Oregon, Penn State, USC and Utah

Epperson is the sixth recruit to reveal his Husky pledge to Jedd Fisch's staff coming out of the weekend -- and third from Washington state, joining edge rusher Victor Sanchez Hernandez from Mukilteo and cornerback D'Aryhian Clemons from Spanaway.

He adds to the UW's interesting collection of defensive players in this Class of 2025, where with his ability to run he could easily play safety.. He's joined by 6-foot-3, 210-pound Donovan Robinson, who played safety for his Illinois state championship team but projects as a linebacker, and Clemons, who has run the 40-yard dash in 4.38 seconds.

All of a sudden, that's a lot of defensive speed bound for Montlake, obviously a necessary component for being competitive in the Big Ten.

Epperson credits Fisch's staff at Arizona with recruiting him hard even after he was injured during his junior year and missed some games, prompting some schools to back off. In his last full season as a sophomore in 2022 for a 4-5 team, he finished with 77 tackles, including 8.5 for lost yards and 2 sacks, and intercepted a pass.

Kalen DeBoer's departed staff initially offered him a year ago and the Huskies' run to the national championship game only helped keep his interest.

“There’s a little intrigue with them in the national championship, because you look at it and think, ‘This program is successful, they compete,’ " Epperson told Andrew Nemec of SBLive in the Sports Illustrated network. "When you go to U-Dub, you know you are going to compete for something.”

Epperson is the second notable Auburn Riverside product who will end up at the UW, and the Huskies are hoping to get a lot more mileage out of him than the first guy, who unfortunately for him got lost in unforeseen circumstances rather than play a prominent role with his hometown team.

In 2020, quarterback Kevin Thomson came to the UW after four seasons at Sacramento State and being named Big Sky Offensive Player of the Year only to get injured and lose out to Dylan Morris in a four-player competition for the starting job. COVID similarly wiped out much of that season, limiting it to four games, and he left without appearing in a game.

The 6-foot-1, 200-pound Thomson since has pursued a CFL career, where he's had a brief stint with the B.C. Lions and currently is signed to play for the Hamilton Tiger-Cats.

For the latest UW football and basketball news, go to si.com/college/washington

Published |Modified
Dan Raley

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.

Home/Recruiting