{"id":76530,"date":"2025-08-21T17:00:45","date_gmt":"2025-08-21T21:00:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/?p=76530"},"modified":"2025-09-16T21:38:37","modified_gmt":"2025-09-17T01:38:37","slug":"husky-position-battles-nickelback","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/2025\/08\/21\/husky-position-battles-nickelback\/","title":{"rendered":"Husky Position Battles: Nickelback"},"content":{"rendered":"
One of the most intriguing position battles taking place at Washington this Fall is at nickelback. Both Leroy Bryant<\/a> and Rahshawn Clark have been rotating at the position for the duration of the offseason. This battle is unique in that it has highlighted the importance of the Fall practice period, with the season just around the corner. If the season had started in May, we probably would have projected Clark, the redshirt freshman, to earn the job. However, Bryant has elevated his game in August, earning the majority of the starting repetitions with the first-team defense. This competition is far closer than it may have looked a few months ago.<\/div>\n

Washington Nickelback Competition<\/h2>\n

The Case for Leroy Bryant<\/h3>\n
Playing close to the formation is one of the defining characteristics of the nickelback position on defense. This defender must be able to run with motion, pick up and guard tight end and slot receiver routes, and get involved in run defense. Bryant believes he possesses the skills necessary to be versatile at the position. When discussing what he brings to the position, Bryant said, \u201cI definitely think my quickness, my physicality, and my ball skills.\u201d<\/div>\n
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Throughout the offseason, the repeated goal within this defense has been to get their hands on the football. \u201cThe message is trying to create more turnovers,\u201d secondary coach John Richardson said this Spring. \u201cWe\u2019re getting our hands on a lot of footballs [this Spring], PBU\u2019s, interceptions, and things like that.\u201d Bryant, the third-year sophomore, recorded an interception, a fumble recovery, and a field goal block in the Spring. During Washington\u2019s scrimmage this Fall, Bryant notched another forced fumble.<\/div>\n
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\u201cHe don\u2019t rock that zero for nothin\u2019,\u201d Richardson said of Bryant. As a defensive back, wearing the number zero is a statement, and Bryant intends to make that statement with his skills defending the pass and the run. \u201cHe doesn\u2019t like the steel benches. For him, he wants to play, and he didn\u2019t come here to sit… He’s making plays.\u201d<\/div>\n

The Case for Rahshawn Clark<\/h3>\n
The former four-star and Seattle native had arguably the most dominant Spring practice of anyone on the roster. Clark unofficially recorded seven interceptions throughout the duration of practice in April. He capped off the month with a forced fumble, a fumble recovery, and a pass breakup during the Spring Game<\/a>.<\/div>\n
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\u201cRahshawn had one of the best Springs on the team,\u201d Fisch said after the Spring Game. \u201cHe might have been the MVP of the Spring.\u201d Clark showed a knack for tracking the football, both in the air and on the ground. When defending the pass, Clark\u2019s footwork and body control allow him to run step for step with receivers and get in position to defend the pass. He\u2019s also a hard-hitting tackler who was seemingly everywhere all at once when it came to tackling the ball carrier.<\/div>\n
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\u201cHe wants the competition,\u201d Richardson said this Fall. \u201cHe\u2019s the same kid as a true freshman that wanted to return punts in the Big Ten.\u201d In addition to his play at nickelback, Clark has been rotating with Kevin Green Jr.<\/a> on punt returns. He didn\u2019t get the opportunity a season ago with Denzel Boston<\/a> returning all but one punt on the season. But in 2025, Clark is likely going to be back deep for punts. But at his primary position, Fisch had high praise for Clark after what he showed he could do in April. \u201cHe\u2019s a really good football player who\u2019s competitive. We\u2019re going to see a lot of him this year.\u201d<\/div>\n
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Photo Credit: Joe Nicholson-Imagn Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
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Predicting the Starter<\/h3>\n
A key differentiating factor between Bryant and Clark is game experience. Washington\u2019s week one matchup against Colorado State would be Bryant\u2019s 14th career game and second career start. Clark, a year younger than Bryant, has played in just one game with seven defensive snaps. To add to Bryant\u2019s edge in this category, much of his game experience has come in big-game environments. In 2024, he got the nod to start the Sun Bowl against Louisville, and appeared in five regular-season games last season, including the White Out at Penn State and on the road at Oregon.<\/div>\n
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\u201cI definitely think it helps as far as just getting the experience to be out there,\u201d Bryant said earlier this Fall. \u201cThe White Out is a big stadium, a lot of fans, pretty loud. So [I] just got comfortable with being out there and playing.\u201d During Bryant\u2019s true freshman campaign, he appeared in seven games but maintained his redshirt. Three of his appearances came in the postseason: Against Oregon in the conference title game, Texas in the Sugar Bowl, and Michigan in the national title.<\/div>\n
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On the field, Bryant and Clark are both highly capable nickel defenders, each proving they\u2019re worthy of the starting opportunity. But when it comes to determining the starter for game one, Bryant\u2019s experience tips the scales in his favor. For Bryant, his goals are clear: \u201cJust attack it every day, stack days, and just make the most of my opportunity.\u201d<\/div>\n
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Main Photo: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One of the most intriguing position battles taking place at Washington this Fall is at nickelback. Both Leroy Bryant and Rahshawn Clark have been rotating at the position for the duration of the offseason. This battle is unique in that it has highlighted the importance of the Fall practice period, with the season just around […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3944,"featured_media":58818,"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":[5,2,17,35612],"tags":[7983,1666,33457,35044,33197,509],"class_list":["post-76530","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bigten","category-featured","category-news","category-washington-huskies","tag-big-ten-football","tag-jedd-fisch","tag-john-richardson","tag-leroy-bryant","tag-rahshawn-clark","tag-washington-huskies"],"modified_by":"Michael Kovacs, ADMIN","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76530","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=76530"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76530\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":76553,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76530\/revisions\/76553"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/58818"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=76530"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=76530"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=76530"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}