SEATTLE — The Washington Huskies football team is set to close out the spring in its annual "Dawgs After Dark" spring game at 6:30 p.m. PT on Friday at Husky Stadium in Seattle.

The Huskies, despite having several players out for most of the spring on both sides of the ball, will have a lot of talent on display in the spring game. On the defense, several of the most talented and experienced players will be the linebackers.

Washington's defense took a massive step forward under defensive coordinator Ryan Walters last season. The group was fifth in scoring defense (18.7 points per game), fifth in yards allowed per game (311.4) and fifth in turnovers forced per game (1.5) in the 18-team Big Ten conference.

Even with the high marks the defense accomplished last year, there is a near-consensus among the players and coaches that the Huskies can field the best defense in the conference, if not the country.

Part of that goal has been an added focus on play-making and the linebacker core has taken that goal to heart.

In Tuesday's practice in Seattle, despite it not being a full-contact day, senior linebacker Jacob Manu punched out a ball caught by junior tight end Decker DeGraaf, recording a forced fumble as a result.

"The guys who I've seen play this spring is the guy that I saw in 2023 play at Arizona," UW linebackers coach Brian Odom said of Manu in a post-practice interview Tuesday. "He's flying around, very vocal in between the whistles. ... He's awesome. Does a great job in every facet of it. And he's probably a little better than you think in all (facets)."

There are six players in UW's linebacker room: seniors Manu and Xe'ree Alexander, junior Taariq "Buddah" Al-Uqdah, sophomore Zaydrius Rainey-Sale, redshirt freshman Donovan Robinson Jr. and true freshman Ezaya Tokio.

Al-Uqdah has been out for this spring recovering from a torn ACL he suffered last season and Rainey-Sale has been practicing this spring in a gold shirt.

Due to Walter's defense, there's only two starting linebacker spots available on the starting defense. Between Manu, Alexander, Al-Uqdah and Rainey-Sale, there aren't enough spots available for everyone to earn first-team reps.

Currently, Alexander and Manu have been getting the most first-team reps.

Despite there being limited spots, the group isn't viewing the lack of positions as a negative or a cutthroat competition.

Instead, the group has encouraged each other. All of them know they will be rotated into the games and receive playing time. And they're viewing it from a glass half-full point of view.

If there's a significant amount of linebackers on the team, the more capable players who can rotate in and keep everyone fresh.

"I feel like it helps us a lot because we can all be fresh and have a good, healthy rotation," Rainey-Sale said after practice Tuesday. "Especially when Buddah comes back. I feel like we're gonna be more deep and better than anybody in college football."

Between the defensive line, which has been one of the most consistently dominant units on the team this spring, and the linebacker room, UW's front-seven could have legitimate potential of being the best in the conference.

"I feel like we could go really far this year," Alexander said after practice Tuesday at Husky Stadium in Seattle. "So just seeing everything, the development I've had and all the work I've put in, I feel like it's gonna contribute this year to the team. ... That's what I see in the future."

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