During warmups against Rutgers, Washington linebacker Jacob Manu looked on as his position group got loose in t-shirts and shorts. Then, when the Huskies took the field, Manu jogged out of the tunnel without pads. During the week leading up to the game, Jedd Fisch confirmed with the media that true freshman Zaydrius Rainey-Sale would be playing for the first time of the season. Putting the pieces together, it appeared that the coaching staff was beginning to balance the load of Manu’s availability for the rest of the season.
Linebacker Updates at Washington
Balancing Manu’s Eligibility
“We’ll make a decision again like we did last week,” Fisch said on Monday, regarding Manu. “If we don’t know anything regarding his lawsuit, then we’ll decide this week on whether or not we’re going to use one of the two available Saturdays that we have left until the season comes to an end.” For Manu to remain eligible for a fifth year in 2026, he is limited to four regular-season games in 2025 to preserve his redshirt.
The linebacker is petitioning for the “five-for-five” rule. This would allow five years of eligibility to compete over a five-year period. Because of the timing of his ACL injury last year (October of 2024), his junior season at Arizona counted as a full year of eligibility. Therefore, Manu must utilize his redshirt this year if he wants to play a full final season in a fifth year.
“My only comment on it is that I think it’s crazy that you can get injured in October and you lose a year. [But if] you get injured in September, you have a year.” Fisch said during his Monday press conference this week. “We don’t have any idea on a timeline. So we have to just treat it as ‘he’s got two games left’,” Fisch continued. “He’s a special kid, and he wants to do what’s right and best, and he’s in a very tough situation right now.”
For the remainder of the season, the Husky coaching staff will have to make a decision on which two of the remaining six games Manu will play. Fisch said he won’t miss out on any NIL or revenue share opportunities. But going forward, Fisch described how every game is a priority on the schedule. As such, it’s a difficult situation to have to navigate.
Next Man In at Linebacker
As expected, Rainey-Sale earned his first action of the season in place of Manu. The former top high school player in the state of Washington was on the field for 16 plays against Rutgers, and he recorded a solo tackle.
Xe’ree Alexander played the most snaps of his season against the Scarlet Knights. Fisch said that the senior linebacker earned a game ball for his performance. “He gives us the ability to rush the passer as an additional body in there,” Fisch said on Monday. He led the team with eight solo tackles in the game and also had a pass breakup. The eight tackles were a season-high for him. Alexander also notched six stops and earned the best PFF tackling grade (85.5) of his career. “I thought he did a really nice job though, there was a lot of good plays there [at linebacker].”
Along with Alexander, Deven Bryant also picked up eight tackles in the game. Six were solo tackles. Bryant had three stops and a quarterback pressure in the game. Going forward, some combination of Rainey-Sale, Bryant, and Alexander can be expected at linebacker. But for Manu, planning his games is a challenge. As of now, it wouldn’t be unreasonable to expect the two games to be on the road at Michigan this weekend and at home against Oregon to finish the season. But if the lawsuit gets resolved sooner, Fisch might not need to make that decision.
Main Image: Joe Nicholson-Imagn Images
