Washington's defense sends a message in Seahawks' practice facility

After a last-minute location change to the Virginia Mason Athletic Center, the Seattle Seahawks' practice facility, the Washington Huskies' defense had an extra opportunity to show off its physicality at the home of the reigning Super Bowl champions.

Throughout the afternoon, the defense showed off the physical edge Jedd Fisch and his coaching staff are looking for in the 2026 season as the Huskies look to take another step forward in their second year under coordinator Ryan Walters. On the back end, Washington's secondary was incredibly physical at the catch point, forcing several drops and incompletions throughout the various team periods.

"I think we're playing well," safeties coach Taylor Mays said after practice. "I think it just comes in spurts of, you've gotta play well all the time, especially in the secondary, because in a 60-play game, and you do well 59 plays, but you get bombed on on the 60th play, and you can't forget it."

"We've done a great job, and (secondary coach John Richardson) has done a great job of losing (Tacario Davis) and (Ephesians Prysock) on the outside and bringing up the next group of corners, and how those guys play with the safeties and with the nickel. Those guys that meshed well early, you know, and that's what's kind of put us ahead of where we were this time last year."

For Washington's secondary to operate at peak efficiency, it's also going to need a big contribution from the defensive line, which put together one of its best days on Tuesday, led by Derek Colman-Brusa, who made one of the biggest highlight reel plays of the spring in a one-on-one rep against redshirt freshman offensive lineman Jack Shaffer, running through him and putting him on his backside mid-play.

Colman-Brusa also broke through the line for what would have been a sack on backup quarterback Treston Kini McMillan during a later team period, as the defensive line was in the backfield seemingly throughout the day, putting pressure on whoever was taking snaps.

Defensive tackle Elinneus Davis and linebacker Zaydrius Rainey-Sale ran a stunt to perfection to engulf quarterback Demond Williams Jr. in an earlier team period, while a combination of suffocating coverage and pressure from variously well-designed rushes caused him to hold onto the ball for a long time on several reps.

Mays said the last-minute change of scenery gave the Huskies an "adjust and adapt" mindset for the day, and that he asked them to simply "go out there and play football and execute," and the team appeared to respond well to the surprise.

Here are some other notes from the VMAC.

Spring practice notebook

• It doesn't matter where he's lined up, freshman wide receiver Trez Davis continues to produce. The former four-star recruit from Louisiana showed off his ability to separate early on in drills, before he made a great adjustment to haul in a back-shoulder throw from Kini McMillan, beating solid coverage from cornerback Elias Johnson, and showed off his balance to stay in bounds for a long touchdown. He took some first-team reps later on in practice, too.
• During the one-on-one reps, sophomore guard John Mills showed off his impressive strength against defensive tackle DeSean Watts, pancaking the Sacramento State transfer.
• The Huskies went through some punt fielding drills for the first time, with cornerbacks Rahshawn Clark and Elijah Durr, along with wide receiver Dezmen Roebuck as the three players back deep.

This article originally appeared on Huskies Wire: Washington's defense shows physicality in Seahawks' practice facility