With the 30 Day Countdown rolling into Day 28, the focus shifts to a simple but fun question: if UW could pluck one defender from the Big 10, who would make the biggest difference? And because this version of the Huskies’ defensive depth chart looks sturdier than it has in a few years, the answer isn’t about patching a desperate hole. It’s about adding a difference-maker to a unit that already has some real pieces in place.
That matters. UW has rotational returning production across most of the defense, plus transfers like CB Emmanuel Karnley and DT Kai McClendon who could hit the field right away.
There are also younger players who seem ready to force their way into major roles, including DL Derek Colman-Brusa and LB Ramzak Fruean. So the bar for this exercise is high: not just “who’s good,” but who actually raises the ceiling the most.
The first obvious name is John Henry Daley, the Michigan edge rusher with the kind of production that jumps off the page. At 6’4” and 255 pounds, he brings the frame to set the edge against the run, but the real calling card is what he does in the backfield.
Last season at Utah, he was an All-American with 17.5 TFL, 11.5 sacks, and two forced fumbles. There’s a catch, though.
Daley spent the summer rehabbing an Achilles injury, and Michigan’s coaches have already said he’ll open the season on a “pitch count.” For UW, that wouldn’t automatically be a deal-breaker given the Edge rotation already in place with Jacob Lane, Isaiah Ward, Russell Davis II, and Devin Hyde.
The question is whether the Huskies need someone who can wreck games right now. Daley certainly fits that description.
Anthony Smith might fit even better. The Minnesota defensive end is a fifth-year player with a resume that stacks up right alongside Daley’s, and he does it at a massive 6’6”, 285 pounds.
He still moves like an explosive pass rusher, too, which is how he led the conference with 12.5 sacks last season while matching Daley with 17.5 TFL. Those numbers earned him First Team All-Big Ten honors after an Honorable Mention season the year before.
If he came to UW, he’d step in as the clear No. 1 edge defender and play as many snaps as possible. That alone changes how the rest of the front is deployed.
There’s also something to be said for the fact that he has become one of the best defenders in the country over the last two seasons and stayed at Minnesota through all of it. In a sport where movement is constant, that kind of consistency stands out.
Then there’s Koi Perich, the Oregon safety who was on the same Minnesota defense as Smith a year ago before transferring. He was a Second Team All-Big 10 selection and still has three years left, which makes him a major offseason get.
Perich plays like a center fielder, the kind of safety who cleans up problems behind the front seven. His 82 tackles are solid, and he also returned his lone interception for a touchdown.
On top of that, he handled Minnesota’s top punt and kick return duties, and even chipped in seven catches and five rushing attempts. He’s versatile, athletic, and productive in a bunch of different ways.
The issue for UW is that safety already looks pretty healthy with Alex McLaughlin back after a strong first season and Rylon Dillard-Allen trending upward. Perich would probably slide into McLaughlin’s spot.
That might be an upgrade, and he’d bring one more year of eligibility than the current incumbent, but the overall value gain feels smaller than what the Huskies would get elsewhere.
So the pick comes down to Anthony Smith. Daley is the flashier pass-rush bet if he were fully healthy, and Perich is a star in his own right.
But Smith is the cleanest answer because he’d arrive as UW’s best edge defender from day one and give the defense a dimension it hasn’t shown consistently in years. With him on the roster, the Huskies might even be in the conversation for a top-10 ranking right now.
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The player drawing attention is George, a nationally regarded edge rusher from Desert Edge High School in Arizona, and Washingtons pitch may already have some built-in momentum. The Huskies have two of his teammates committed in the 2027 class, a connection that could matter as the recruiting race develops, especially with Washington trying to build long-term depth up front while the current team gets ready for the new season. [Read more 🡒]
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Complicating the picture is the turnover in the roster, with departures hitting depth as much as headline names. Washington has had to replace a large number of players who moved on through the portal, which puts more pressure on younger and less experienced pieces to hold up over the course of the season. For a program trying to stay in the contender conversation, the concern is less about flashes and more about whether the back end of the roster can survive the demands of a schedule built to expose it. [Read more 🡒]