{"id":86338,"date":"2026-04-03T12:45:35","date_gmt":"2026-04-03T16:45:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/?p=86338"},"modified":"2026-04-03T12:45:35","modified_gmt":"2026-04-03T16:45:35","slug":"ryan-walters-talks-uw-linebacker-depth-at-spring-practice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/2026\/04\/03\/ryan-walters-talks-uw-linebacker-depth-at-spring-practice\/","title":{"rendered":"Ryan Walters Talks UW Linebacker Depth at Spring Practice"},"content":{"rendered":"
During Thursday\u2019s practice session, Washington took the field in helmets only. There were, however, more team periods and 11-on-11 periods than on <\/span>Tuesday\u2019s opening day of Spring<\/a><\/span>. And for the defense, this is a group that\u2019s been able to take the field with momentum under year-two coordinator Ryan Walters. <\/span><\/div>\n
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\u201c[We\u2019re] way ahead of where we were at this time last year,\u201d Walters said after Thursday\u2019s practice. \u201cSo we were able to add a couple more wrinkles earlier and try some new things. Guys are flying around, communicating at a high level, it’s just fun to watch and fun to get back to football.\u201d<\/span><\/div>\n

Ryan Walters Talks Washington’s Linebackers<\/span><\/h2>\n

Washington Linebacker Veterans<\/span><\/h3>\n
The middle of the Husky defense currently features three veteran linebackers with starting potential. <\/span>Jacob Manu<\/a><\/span> recorded 116 total tackles for Arizona in 2023. But an injury sidelined him in 2024, and he took a redshirt season last year. <\/span>Xe\u2019Ree Alexander<\/a><\/span>\u2019s 2025 season was one that took him from rotational player to starter and bowl game MVP. And <\/span>Zaydrius Rainey-Sale<\/a><\/span>\u2019s true freshman year earned him eight games played with two starts on defense. <\/span><\/div>\n
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\u201cThey all get along really well,\u201d Walters said of the linebacker trio. \u201cIn our first defensive team meeting before spring ball, I was like, \u2018Hey, listen, this is going to be healthy competition.\u2019 We’ve got arguably four starting Big Ten linebackers when we mostly play with two.\u201d In addition to Manu, Alexander, and Rainey-Sale, Buddah Al-Uqdah is a fourth capable starter when healthy. He started the first three games of 2025 before injury and will be hungry to earn his way back into the lineup when cleared to practice in the Fall.<\/span><\/div>\n
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Competition and Versatility<\/span><\/h3>\n
\u201cAnytime you\u2019ve got competition, that\u2019s going to elevate a room,\u201d Walters continued. \u201cAnd if a room gets elevated, our defense is elevated. And if our defense is elevated, our program is elevated.\u201d Walters\u2019 defense has typically been a two-backer defense, as he described. But with the depth at linebacker, there will be new wrinkles to the middle of the unit to get them all out there at once. \u201cIt will be good to have a rotation, keep guys fresh. We\u2019ll get creative to find ways to get more than two guys out there.\u201d<\/span><\/div>\n
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We\u2019ve already seen a three-linebacker set on multiple occasions during some of the team period sessions at Washington’s practices this Spring. With Manu and Alexander lined up as traditional stack-backers, Rainey-Sale has flexed down into the EDGE spot and out wide into more of a nickel role. <\/span><\/div>\n
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\u201cWe\u2019re going to elevate more plays with all three of us in,\u201d Alexander said after Thursday\u2019s practice. \u201cWhen all three of us are out there, we just enjoy it because we\u2019re all out there ready to just dominate whoever’s in front of us.\u201d<\/span><\/div>\n

Xe\u2019ree Alexander\u2019s Growth<\/span><\/h3>\n
But position multiplicity is not limited to Rainey-Sale. Alexander is a versatile player with veteran knowledge of the defense. \u201cI love being versatile, I love to spend time with the d-ends and EDGE rushers to work on my pass rush and elevate that game too,\u201d Alexander explained on Thursday evening. \u201cI want to put the film out there to show I can play in the box, but that I can [also] play on the EDGE too and rush the quarterback.\u201d<\/span><\/div>\n
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Alexander began the 2025 season as a second-string linebacker for Washington. He played just 46 snaps in the first three games combined. But injuries in the room afforded him increased reps on gameday, and he took advantage. Alexander played 67 snaps in the Rutgers game with eight tackles and a season-high six stops. He then went on to start the final five regular-season games and earn LA Bowl MVP honors with a sack, a tackle for loss, an interception, and a couple of pass breakups in that game. Said Walters after practice on Thursday, \u201cAnytime you finish a season the way he did, that\u2019s going to give you some confidence into the offseason and into Spring ball.\u201d<\/span><\/div>\n
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When asked about how he\u2019s carrying that momentum into the 2026 season, Alexander said, \u201cJust bringing the knowledge from last season into this season. And just elevating everything behind that – footwork, shedding blocks. I feel like I’ve really improved from last season to now.\u201d <\/span><\/div>\n

Year-to-Year Improvement<\/span><\/h3>\n
When compared to last season, Alexander acknowledged where he was at this time last year. \u201cWhen I first got here, I feel like it was a really big adjustment, learning a whole new playbook.\u201d Walters has also noticed the improvements from the former Idaho and UCF linebacker. \u201cIf you look at practice one and two from a year ago, it looked a lot different for him,\u201d Walters described. \u201cIt\u2019s just a testament to the work he\u2019s put in.\u201d Now, he\u2019s on pace to start among a rotation of high-quality linebackers in this Husky defense. When you evaluate his versatility and the production he created last season, it\u2019s going to be nearly impossible to justify keeping him off the field.<\/span><\/div>\n
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Main Photo: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images<\/span><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

During Thursday\u2019s practice session, Washington took the field in helmets only. There were, however, more team periods and 11-on-11 periods than on Tuesday\u2019s opening day of Spring. And for the defense, this is a group that\u2019s been able to take the field with momentum under year-two coordinator Ryan Walters. \u201c[We\u2019re] way ahead of where we […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3944,"featured_media":86375,"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":[36006,10272],"class_list":["post-86338","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bigten","category-featured","category-news","category-washington-huskies","tag-buddah-al-uqdah","tag-ryan-walters"],"modified_by":"Kate Pearson Halyburton, Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86338","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=86338"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86338\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":86384,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86338\/revisions\/86384"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/86375"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=86338"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=86338"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=86338"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}