{"id":76679,"date":"2025-08-24T20:24:22","date_gmt":"2025-08-25T00:24:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/?p=76679"},"modified":"2025-09-16T21:38:36","modified_gmt":"2025-09-17T01:38:36","slug":"husky-position-battles-safety","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/2025\/08\/24\/husky-position-battles-safety\/","title":{"rendered":"Husky Position Battles: Safety"},"content":{"rendered":"

Washington\u2019s two starters at safety are more than likely going to feature a combination of CJ Christian<\/a>, Alex McLaughlin, and Makell Esteen<\/a>. Over the course of the offseason, the starting defense has included two of these three with consistency. True freshman Rylon-Dillard Allen has been thoroughly impressive throughout the Spring and Fall and remains in the rotation. But the starting nod on Saturday against Colorado State is likely to go to one of the three veterans.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Washington’s Competition at Safety<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The Case for CJ Christian<\/strong><\/h3>\n

After Christian\u2019s JUCO season at Iowa Central Community College and three years at FIU, he made the jump to the Power Four at Washington. He was immediately placed into the first team defense. During the Spring, Christian lined up primarily at the post safety spot with the starters, alongside Esteen at the box safety.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

But this Fall, Christian has been taking a lot of snaps at the down safety position. \u201cCoach Mays has got us wanting to be more versatile, learning both positions,\u201d Christian said this month. \u201cSo in the Spring, I was mainly, a lot of the time, being the back [post safety] guy. In the Fall, I\u2019m kind of being the down [box safety] guy as well.\u201d Ryan Walters and Taylor Mays have each discussed their preference for having versatile safeties that can play both positions. Walters does not refer to his defensive backs specifically as a \u201cpost safety\u201d or \u201cbox safety.\u201d Rather, he refers to his players as \u201cdefensive backs,\u201d reinforcing his stress on multiplicity.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cEach day I feel like I’m just stacking days,\u201d Christian said. \u201cWhen I get my opportunity, I’m just trying to make sure I make the most of it.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The Case for Alex McLaughlin<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Like Leroy Bryant at nickel<\/a>, McLaughlin is a player who\u2019s elevated his game throughout the month of August. The stand-out safety at Northern Arizona has emerged as a starter at box safety for the majority of Fall Camp. \u201cI feel very comfortable compared to the Spring,\u201d McLaughlin said. \u201cI feel like I was just feeling it out [in the Spring]. Listening to Coach Mays and Coach Walters help me throughout the scheme, I feel pretty comfortable.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

And that\u2019s been apparent. McLaughlin notched a sack, a tackle for loss, and a pass breakup during Washington\u2019s Mock Game<\/a> earlier this month. He started both the Mock Game and the Fall scrimmage in August, and thrives playing closer to the formation as a box safety. \u201cHe comes down hil and he\u2019ll hit ya,\u201d Fisch said after the Mock Game. \u201cSo that\u2019s kind of what impresses me the most.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

McLaughlin has also bulked up since arriving at Washington. He weighed in around 186 pounds when he transferred in, and is up to 200 pounds now. That\u2019s something he recognized he needed to do to be at his best in a power conference. \u201cDefinitely the size,\u201d McLaughlin said this Fall. \u201cThe size of the linemen is a pretty big difference.\u201d He came from the Big Sky Conference in the FCS. McLaughlin led his team in tackles as a true freshman with 74. A year later, he notched 96 tackles with two forced fumbles and two interceptions. \u201cI just felt like it was time for me to take that next step. I felt like I proved myself at that level, I felt like I was ready to go compete at this stage.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The Case for Makell Esteen<\/strong><\/h3>\n

In terms of being versatile, Esteen is another player we\u2019ve seen at both safety spots for Washington this offseason. In the Spring, the primary first team defense featured Christian at post and Esteen at box. But this Fall, Esteen is playing back deep at post safety. Walters\u2019 defense assigns the post safety a lot of responsibility, needing to track the football the full width of the field.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s gotta be able to get sideline to sideline, take good angles to eliminate explosive plays,\u201d\u00a0 Walters said, describing the responsibilities of the post safety earlier this offseason. \u201cGotta be cerebral in some of our motion adjustments. Those are all things that are essential to playing that position.\u201d That\u2019s something that Esteen has shown his ability to do this offseason. His veteran understanding at safety allows him to trust his reads and limit mistakes. It\u2019s what makes him a likely candidate to start at post safety this Fall.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like I fit in pretty well,\u201d Esteen said. \u201cWe went back and watched what [Walters] does, and it\u2019s very well built for safeties.\u201d It\u2019s a position that demands responsibility, and Esteen has proven he\u2019s capable of taking on that role with his performance this offseason. \u201c[Walters] works very well with the safeties and what we do in this scheme,\u201d Esteen said. \u201cI\u2019m excited.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

What to Expect at Safety<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Christian\u2019s experience at FIU was at a position very similar to the post safety here at Washington. And though he played a lot in the box this Fall, he appears to be best equipt at post. But in terms of a starter at the post safety position, Esteen is the best bet to take the field first on Saturday. His overall consistency as a first-team safety this offseason and 33 games of experience at the FBS level differentiate him from Christian. But the gap between the two is close.<\/span><\/p>\n

The strides that McLaughlin made this Fall create a strong argument for him to jump into the starting role at box safety. The plays he\u2019s made this Fall, the weight he added, and the way the coaching staff has taken note of his physicality indicate that they believe he\u2019s ready.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

But don\u2019t discount Dillard-Allen, the talented freshman who will keep this trio on its toes. He is pushing hard to earn playing time, and he\u2019ll get it. With the talent spread among the four players in this competition, we\u2019re going to see them all in some capacity this year. As Walters repeats to his players on the defense, \u201cPositions are not owned, they\u2019re rented. And rent is due every day.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Main Image: Troy Wayrynen-Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Washington\u2019s two starters at safety are more than likely going to feature a combination of CJ Christian, Alex McLaughlin, and Makell Esteen. Over the course of the offseason, the starting defense has included two of these three with consistency. True freshman Rylon-Dillard Allen has been thoroughly impressive throughout the Spring and Fall and remains in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3944,"featured_media":76689,"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":[34555,7983,34798,1666,33357,10272,35473,34776,509],"class_list":["post-76679","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bigten","category-featured","category-news","category-washington-huskies","tag-alex-mclaughlin","tag-big-ten-football","tag-cj-christian","tag-jedd-fisch","tag-makell-esteen","tag-ryan-walters","tag-rylon-dillard-allen","tag-taylor-mays","tag-washington-huskies"],"modified_by":"Michael Kovacs, ADMIN","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76679","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=76679"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76679\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":76690,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76679\/revisions\/76690"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/76689"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=76679"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=76679"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=76679"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}