Dylan Robinson Meets Washington Coaches' Challenge to be More 'Aggressive'

SEATTLE — The Washington Huskies football team is coming off a 25-21 loss against the No. 19 USC Trojans on Oct. 3, in which UW fell to 3-2 on the season and 0-2 in Big Ten play.

One of the few highlights of the loss for Washington was the performance of second-year cornerback Dylan Robinson, who played perhaps his best game with the team.

Head coach Jedd Fisch and defensive coordinator Ryan Walters challenged the 6-foot-3, 210-pound corner to be more aggressive in the week leading up to the game against the Trojans, and he met the challenge.

Robinson finished the game with five total tackles (four solo) and one pass defended. He allowed a touchdown on a 50/50 ball that was pulled down by the USC receiver after slipping through the corner's hands. Robinson was also called for a pass interference that extended a Trojans drive in the third quarter that should have been called on the offense.

"It was definitely his best game," Huskies head coach Jedd Fisch said in a weekly news conference Monday. "As he's, each week gotten better, we're now looking at — first year as a starter. It was his fifth game starting, other than a couple games where there were some injuries a year ago, and he, by far, played the most confident. ... Certainly looked like he got better playing football."

The confidence in Robinson has never been lacking from the coaching staff. He's been referred to as a future NFL draft pick by his coaches.

It's helped Robinson to have a reminder of the aggressiveness he could play with when looking at the starting corner on the opposite side of the field.

Fourth-year cornerback Emmanuel Karnley returned to the starting lineup Saturday after missing the last two contests with a soft tissue injury.

Karnley doesn't have the same size as Robinson and is listed at 6-foot-1, 195 pounds. However, the Virginia Cavaliers transfer has played aggressively in his three games on the field. In three games, he has nine total tackles (seven solo) and four passes defended.

"Every play is gonna be aggressive," Robinson said in a weekly news conference Tuesday. "I've got to match that on the other side of the field. My coaches always emphasize that (with) my size and stuff like that. So, when I see (Karnley), at his size, doing what he does, I got to go out there and make a play."

The second-year corner's continued development and improvement will be a focal point of the UW defense the deeper it gets into its Big Ten schedule and the more talented receivers the team will face.

"(Robinson) was a lot more aggressive than he's shown in the past," Washington defensive coordinator Ryan Walters said in a weekly news conference Tuesday. " ... (We challenged him to) just to have the confidence to go out there and play the game he's capable of playing and I thought he did that."