Fourth-year Emmanuel Karnley and third-year Rahshawn Clark are both listed as questionable for the Huskies' Big Ten opener against the Minnesota Golden Gophers.
The Washington Huskies football team is days away from beginning its slate of games against Big Ten opposition. The first in-conference team on the Huskies schedule is the Minnesota Golden Gophers. The two sides will meet at 8 p.m. PT on Saturday at Husky Stadium in Seattle.
Washington will see a valuable player return on the defensive side of the ball.
Fourth-year defensive tackle Elinneus Davis, who's missed the last two games with a calf injury, will be back in the fold against the team representing his native state.
However, with Davis' addition could come another subtraction on UW's defense.
According to an injury report released Wednesday, third-year defensive back and starting kick and punt returner Rahshawn Clark will be questionable for the Big Ten opener.
Clark, the team's starting nickelback, is the second starting quarterback to land on the injured list for the Huskies.
Starting outside cornerback, fourth-year player Emmanuel Karnley, has been week-to-week since suffering a soft-tissue injury in Week 2 against the Washington State Cougars.
In a weekly news conference held via Zoom on Thursday, head coach Jedd Fisch expressed confidence that the team won't be without both starters Saturday and that at least one of the two will be able to play.
Fisch also clarified the team's plan if Clark and Karnley are both unable to play.
"I would expect that we'll have one or both of those guys for the game," Fisch said. "If we didn't have either one or both of those guys, then we'd have (third-year cornerback Elias Johnson) or (second-year cornerback Ramonz Adams Jr.). So we'd have some other options there. But I expect that we'll have some combination of guys that have played more often. But I think Elias will give us some work as well and then Ramonz Adams has done a great job. I don't know where those guys are playing, nor would I say publicly where I thought someone would be inside or outside."
In Karnley's absence, first-year Jeron Jones has played the second outside cornerback position opposite second-year Dylan Robinson.
Jones is also usually listed as Clark's backup at nickelback on the depth chart, which would mean if both Karnley and Clark would be unable to go, Jones could start at either position while Adams or Johnson plays in the other.
Adams saw game time in UW's 48-16 win against the Eastern Washington Eagles on Sept. 19 but didn't register a statistic. He also didn't register a statistic in four games played in 2025.
Johnson hasn't recorded any playing time this season. He played in two games last year and had one tackle across the pair of contests.
