{"id":72327,"date":"2025-02-09T12:00:53","date_gmt":"2025-02-09T17:00:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/?p=72327"},"modified":"2025-09-16T21:39:02","modified_gmt":"2025-09-17T01:39:02","slug":"thompson-and-prysock-discuss-husky-defense","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/2025\/02\/09\/thompson-and-prysock-discuss-husky-defense\/","title":{"rendered":"Thompson and Prysock Discuss Husky Defense, Expectations"},"content":{"rendered":"

There\u2019s a notion of anticipation surrounding the defensive side of the football at Washington. Hearing from Ryan Walters<\/a> gave us our first glimpse of what the defense might look like in 2025. We also had the opportunity to sit down with transfer defensive lineman Anterio Thompson<\/a> and\u00a0cornerback Ephesians Prysock<\/a>, who each shared what they can bring to the Husky defense this Fall. Up front, Thompson detailed his style of play and how he can help shape locker room culture on Montlake. For Prysock, the reunion with a former teammate will strengthen a cornerback room that saw attrition this offseason. <\/span><\/p>\n

Thompson Talks Culture<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Before arriving at Washington, Thompson began his collegiate career at Iowa Western Community College. He transferred to Iowa in 2023 where he played mostly on special teams, and came off the bench at defensive line in a couple of games. At Western Michigan in 2024 Thompson became a starter on defense, showing the impact he can have up front. Along the way, the new Husky learned the different aspects that go into becoming the leader in a locker room. \u201cI picked [up] a lot of things from each school,\u201d Thompson said.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIowa taught me leadership,\u201d Thompson said. \u201cIt taught me a different type of culture, a different way of playing ball.\u201d The locker room at Iowa that year was one that displayed great strength during a tumultuous season. Outside noise regarding on-field performance may have shaken the bond of an ordinary group of players. But Thompson said that didn\u2019t happen. \u201cI just feel like the culture that we had at that time, the players stuck together, the coaches talked to us as everything was playing out.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Once he arrived in Kalamazoo, Thompson\u2019s role shifted from learning to leading. \u201cWestern Michigan was me going into a culture where I had to be the leader,\u201d Thompson described. It was his third season of college football, and he immediately became a starter at defensive line. Thompson played over 400 snaps that season. It included games at Wisconsin and at Ohio State to begin the year, in which he logged seven total tackles and a couple of quarterback hurries.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Fitting An Aggressive Front<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Thompson blocked two punts at Iowa, and those blocks showcase one of the defensive tackle\u2019s unique strengths – his quickness. The new Husky is listed at 6′-3\u201d and 293 pounds, but his speed separates him from the rest of the room. \u201cMe being one of the fastest guys at my position,\u201d Thompson began, \u201cAnd also being one of the explosive guys at my position, I feel like one thing I bring is havoc.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cHavoc\u201d is a word that Thompson repeatedly used when describing himself. And \u201chavoc\u201d was exactly what he created at Western Michigan. Thompson had two tackles for loss and 34 total tackles in 12 games as a starter for the Broncos last year. He also created 17 quarterback pressures on the year, the most on the team. \u201c[I\u2019m] a guy that can take advantage of the O-Line with my speed,\u201d he said. \u201cI can get in the backfield, and bring a little of everything when it comes to the run and the pass.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

At Washington, Thompson said that Walters wants to build the Husky defense around the strengths of his players. But being about two months away from the beginning of Spring practice, the system hasn’t been installed yet. We anticipate the defensive front being an aggressive unit<\/a>. Walters described it as such, and the tape at his previous stops show it<\/a> as well. For Thompson, that likely means he\u2019ll be on the inside of a defensive front with five guys at the line. This can translate into one-on-one matchups where he’ll demonstrate the havoc he\u2019s capable of creating.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Reunited Cornerback Duo<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Teammates at Arizona under Jedd Fisch, Prysock and Tacario Davis<\/a> will be reunited in the Husky secondary this season. \u201cThat\u2019s my boy,\u201d Prysock said. \u201cThat\u2019s like my twin, we\u2019re built the same.\u201d Both cornerbacks are listed at 6\u2019-4\u201d, bringing a unique length to the outside of the Husky defense. For their size, each one of them displays exceptional foot quickness and the ability to match receivers stride for stride. They\u2019re each fluid in their coverage and are pure, consistent tacklers.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

They combined for 24 pass breakups in 2023, along with 85 tackles and two interceptions. Don\u2019t expect there to be any drop off in the chemistry between these two. Prysock and Davis will pick up, \u201cRight where we left off,\u201d Prysock described. \u201cWe back doing everything together. [It\u2019s] going to be great to go through this last year with him.\u201d This season, they\u2019re likely to see an uptick in the amount of man coverage responsibilities in Walters’ defense that relies more heavily on that scheme. But the end goal against opposing offenses remains the same according to Prysock, “To stop their best guy.”<\/span><\/p>\n

Secondary Competition<\/strong><\/h3>\n

With the addition of Davis to the room, Prysock’s expectation is, \u201cTo be the best secondary in the nation.” The room certainly has the veterans to make a statement. But the personnel at cornerback extends beyond the duo. Leroy Bryant<\/a> started in the Sun Bowl against Louisville, his first collegiate start as a redshirt freshman. Entering next season, Bryant is the most experienced cornerback behind Prysock and Davis, and is likely to be in competition for the slot cornerback position. \u201cI feel like we got some ballers in the cornerback room,\u201d Prysock said. \u201cBut it\u2019s based on the competition, may the best man win.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Main Image; Imagn\/USA Today<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There\u2019s a notion of anticipation surrounding the defensive side of the football at Washington. Hearing from Ryan Walters gave us our first glimpse of what the defense might look like in 2025. We also had the opportunity to sit down with transfer defensive lineman Anterio Thompson and\u00a0cornerback Ephesians Prysock, who each shared what they can […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3944,"featured_media":72341,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2,5,35612],"tags":[34739,33177,1666,10272,33144,509],"class_list":["post-72327","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-bigten","category-washington-huskies","tag-anterio-thompson","tag-ephesians-prysock","tag-jedd-fisch","tag-ryan-walters","tag-tacario-davis","tag-washington-huskies"],"modified_by":"Michael Kovacs, ADMIN","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72327","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3944"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=72327"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72327\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":72340,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72327\/revisions\/72340"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/72341"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=72327"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=72327"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=72327"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}