The 2009 Huskies Secondary: Good or Bad?

You know your secondary is terrible when looking through the Getty/Bleacher Report archive of pictures, you can't find any good pictures of your defensive backs making plays.

It's even worse when most of the pictures are of them getting burned.

It goes without saying that the Washington Huskies defense needs a complete transfusion of energy and talent at safety and cornerback.

That or they just need concentrated coaching and athletic conditioning.

Going into 2009, the defense seems more or less set in its rotation at defensive line, and the linebacker lineup is a forgone conclusion. However there has been a constant rotation of players and both safety and cornerback.

Guys like Nate Williams, an honorable mention for All-Pac-10 honors last season, seems to be the only sure shot at any of the position. For what it's worth, he could potentially be a huge star for the team. He plays the position well and loves to hit hard.

The return of Jason Wells at safety is absolutely vital to creating depth at the position. The other big name safety on the team, Victor Aiyewa, has had injury problems and this creates depth problems at the position.

Tyrone Willingham moved freshman running back Johri Fogerson to the position to add backup, and now Steve Sarkisian has move wide receiver Alvin Logan to safety as well.

The pattern emerging is that the coaches have been severely dissatisfied with either the talent or depth at the position.

At cornerback the problem isn't depth but who pairs up with Quinton Richardson. The coaches have penciled him in at the starting cornerback spot, but have no less than four players listed at the other one.

Through the entirety of spring, neither Justin Glenn, Matt Mosley, Anthony Gobern, or Vonzell McDowell staked a convincing claim to the position.

It is a worrying statistic that perhaps there is no leader, but perhaps it could lead to an increase in talent based on the competition for the slot.

It really just depends on whether these guys are playing up to get the spot or playing timid because they don't want to be the guy to screw up on saturdays.

Potentially, depending on how well he picks up the system, the Huskies may have a short term solution in junior college transfer Dominique Gaisie. However, he will have the least amount of time in the program since he'll be joining with the JC transfers in fall.

Gaisie, along with safety David Batts should add much needed cover to a unit that has just been atrocious the last couple years.

Baseline, it may be another year until the talent has matured enough to be an effective unit. Nick Holt needs to create schemes which will help out the players and provide the best possible cover for the field.

The offense will be learning all year long, so it will often be up to the defense to keep the Huskies in the game.

I wouldn't hold out too much hope for a massive turnaround, but the team has matured, and there is new energy.

We will find out starting September 5th whether that helps or not.