The Washington Huskies football team has a healthy crop of returning talent this upcoming season, the third under head coach Jedd FIsch.

The Huskies have four-of-five offensive line starters from last season, junior quarterback Demond Williams Jr., last year's second-leading receiver Dezmen Roebuck and junior tight end Decker DeGraaf all returning to the team.

On the defensive end, starting cornerbacks (and 2026 NFL draft picks) Ephesians Prysock and Tacario Davis will be replaced with heralded sophomore Dylan Robinson and senior transfer portal acquisition Emmanuel Karnley.

Starting safety Alex McLaughlin, defensive lineman Ellineus Davis, edge rusher Jacob Lane and linebackers Xe'ree Alexander, Jacob Manu and Zaydrius Rainey-Sale are among the returners on the defensive side of things.

Despite the amount of returning talent on the team, several betting sites have the win total line set below where Washington finished last year.

Covers.com has the over/under for the Huskies' 2026 win total set at 7.5 for next season. If Washington were to finish a half-game over or under the line, that would be a decline from UW's 9-4 mark last year, which ended in a 38-10 win over the Boise State Broncos in the Los Angeles Bowl.

Covers' betting prediction of 7.5 wins for Washington seems to be the general consensus among most betting sites, which would place the team around the middle of the pack in the Big Ten.

Other publications have differing expectations for the Huskies.

In a preseason top 25 poll from the Athletic, which came after the majority of spring football games were played, writers Sam Khan Jr. and Austin Mock had the Huskies ranked 14th.

In the poll, the Athletic highlighted the crop of returning talent for Washington, which seems to be the biggest reason why the team is ranked in several preseason top 25 polls.

Here's what Mock and Khan's article said about the Huskies:

"The Huskies had to fill some vacancies on offense, but they return quarterback Demond Williams and four starters along the offensive line. True freshman Kodi Greene, a five-star recruit, appears ready to start Day 1 at left tackle to fill out the front. On defense, the Huskies return their two leading tacklers, safety Alex McLaughlin and linebacker Xe’ree Alexander, their TFL leader, Jacob Lane, and an experienced middle linebacker in Jacob Manu, a one-time all-conference pick who’s fully healthy after two injury-shortened seasons."

Fisch was hired as head coach at Washington following the team's College Football Playoff championship loss against Michigan. Following the loss, several of the team's top contributors, including wide receiver Rome Odunze and quarterback Michael Penix Jr., departed for the NFL and then-head coach Kalen DeBoer took the same job with the Alabama Crimson Tide.

Fisch, who was coming off a successful rebuild with the Arizona Wildcats football program, was tasked with doing the same with the Huskies. He led the team to a 6-7 record his first year at the helm and improved the team by three wins last year.

Given Washington's trajectory under Fisch, and the amount of talent the program is returning, there's reason to be optimistic the Huskies will finish over the line Covers and most betting sites have for them.

Remember to join our HUSKIES ROUNDTABLE community, which is FREE! You can post your own thoughts, in text or video form, and you can engage with our Roundtable staff, as well as other Washington fans. If prompted to download the Roundtable APP, that's free too!