It's Looking More Like a Defensive Class for Huskies

The UW started off with five offensive commits, but has turned to elite defenders.

Zaydrius Rainey-Sale on UW visit in 2023. / UW

The first five commits for Jedd Fisch's 2025 University of Washington recruiting class were offensive players, including a pair of quarterbacks, with Jedd Fisch initially leaving the impression it was more important to find people to move the football rather than stop it.

Over the past week, this offensive theme even seemed to get much more specific, that this would be the year of the tight end, with the Huskies collecting scholarship pledges from a pair of 4-star players at that position.

Ah, but that was all just a bit of posturing. With 18 promises in hand, the UW now seems intent on making this class more about elite and highly mobile defenders from the Northwest, beginning with 4-star linebacker Zaydrius Rainey-Sale from Spanaway, Washington, followed by fellow 4-star linebacker Jonathan Epperson from Auburn and punctuated by super fast cornerback D'Aryhian Clemons, also from Spanaway -- all emerging from a region separated by no more than 20 miles.

It's all about speed, speed and more speed.

Internet recruiting bios suggest Rainey-Sale and Epperson each run the 40-yard dash in 4.6 seconds, which could make them the second coming of Azeem Victor and Keishawn Bierria, the Huskies' starting linebackers for their 2016 College Football Playoff semifinalist team and considered the program's swiftest second-row tandem over several decades.

Rainey-Sale, equally impressive with his 6-foot-3, 225-pound frame, will have a large, built-in fan following throughout his Husky career for being the local guy determined to stay home and play in Montlake, needing to commit to two different coaching staffs to make that happen.

Jonathan Epperson is considered the second-best player in the state of Washington. / UW

Epperson, who stands 6 feet and weighs 210 pounds, was nimble enough he ran the ball at times as a junior at Auburn Riverside, averaging nearly 7 yards per carry and breaking a long run of 68 yards. It will be his job to prevent others from doing stuff like that.

Clemons, according to recruiting reports, has clocked 4.38 in the 40, which would make him the speediest UW corner since John Ross pulled some secondary shifts in 2014 on loan from the wide-receiver corps.

As the Huskies put together a defense made for the Big Ten, they have eight commits in hand on this side of the ball, including three from edge rushers in Devin Hyde from Atherton, California; Victor Sanchez Hernandez from Mukilteo, Washington; and Caleb Smith of Birmingham, Alabama. If recruiting records are accurate, each one of these players ironically carries a matching 6-foot-5, 240-pound frame.

A wild-card player is Donovan Robinson, a 6-foot-3, 210-pound safety from Wilmette, Illinois, who projects as another linebacker for the Huskies. He's fast enough that he returns punts for Loyola Academy, north of Chicago.

D'Aryhian Clemons brings high-end speed to the UW at cornerback. / UW

In filling out a defense, the UW has a solitary down lineman commitment so far from 6-foot-3, 295-pound Dominic Macon of Happy Valley, Oregon, someone considered somewhat of a project as he becomes a more visible recruit. Fisch's staff could use a real playmaker at this position who compares to past Huskies Vita Vea, Greg Gaines, Levi Onwuzurike or Danny Shelton, all eventual NFL players, to make things dynamic.

Three and a half decades ago, legendary Husky coach Don James determined his team was getting beat because it was too slow on defense and he went out and recruited more speed, much of it from Southern California, literally leading to the Huskies' 1991 national championship run.

The difference now is Fisch appears to have found some speedy guys much closer to home.

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