Profiling Washington's defensive players on Shrine Bowl watch list

Jedd Fisch's Washington Huskies have seven players from the defense or special teams on the East-West Shrine Bowl's annual Shrine Bowl 1000 watch list. Released earlier this week, inclusion on the list indicates a good chance that a player will be invited to either the Shrine Bowl or its competitor game, the Panini Senior Bowl, which will release its own watchlist later this summer.

Huskies defensive tackle Elinneus Davis, edge rusher Jacob Lane, linebackers Xe'ree Alexander and Jacob Manu, cornerback Emmanuel Karnley, safety Alex McLaughlin, and punter Hunter Green represented the defense and special teams on the list. Both are units Fisch overhauled going into the 2025 season, with Alexander, Manu, and McLaughlin all joining the team via the transfer portal before that year after Washington replaced outgoing defensive coordinator Steve Belichick with current coordinator Ryan Walters. Fisch also brought in special teams coordinator Chris Petrilli, although the results with the specialist group were more mixed in 2025. That led Washington to target Green, a Huskies legacy and former FCS All-American at Northern Colorado in 2024, in the transfer portal this offseason.

Davis has been a steadily ascending player and one of the few consistent presences on the Huskies' defensive line over the last three seasons, playing in 12 games as a redshirt freshman in 2024 and 13 with 10 starts last season. He was nearly unblockable during spring practices and could be in line for a huge year with a remade group including freshmen Derek Colman-Brusa, Tufanua Ionatana Umu-Cais, and JD Hill and transfers Darin Conley, DeSean Watts, and Kai McClendon. As a fourth-year player, Davis will also be eligible to return to Montlake in 2027.

Lane was ranked just behind Davis in Washington's class of 2023 as the 14th and 15th-best composite recruits in that cycle. Considering how much the top of that class has atrophied - 6th-ranked Rashid Williams is the highest-rated player remaining on Washington's roster, and just three of the top ten recruits from that cycle remain on Montlake - the fact that the Huskies have three players (Lane, Davis, and center Landen Hatchett) from the class on the Shrine Bowl watchlist is impressive.

Lane would be off to the NFL one way or another had the NCAA not changed its eligibility rules in June, which will allow the in-state Emerald Ridge standout to return to Washington in 2027 if he doesn't build on his first season as a full-time starter to his satisfaction.

Alexander may very well end up being somewhat of a surprise to Huskies fans when the NFL draft rolls around, as his feedback in league circles seems borderline hyperbolic for a player who will be a part-time starter for Washington this season. But all of the Huskies' linebackers will play a ton this year, and a defensive MVP honor from the LA Bowl allowed Alexander to finish his first season on Montlake with a flourish. The UCF transfer also has the benefit of arriving at the right time: the NFL has coveted players who can switch between off-ball linebacker and edge rusher in recent seasons. Alexander, like Lane, has a fifth season available due to the NCAA rule change, but he may find his middle-round NFL projection more enticing than returning to start on a full-time basis next to Zaydrius Rainey-Sale.

Manu only played five games last season as Washington tried to slow-play his arrival in the hopes that this summer's NCAA rule changes would come in the middle of last season, which would've allowed Manu to be fully active last year without sacrificing his ability to return in 2026. Instead, Huskies fans only caught glimpses of what the Arizona transfer is capable of, but his spring session this offseason should have those same fans eager to see what he can do without Fisch assigning an assistant to make sure the senior doesn't trot out of the tunnel with his pads on every week. Listed at 5-foot-9, Manu has an uphill battle to make the league, but his tenacity and competitive spirit should be enough to get his foot in the door. An invite to an event like the Shrine Bowl, where players get more face time with NFL personnel, would undoubtedly be extremely helpful for him.

Karnley spent the 2023 season with Fisch and defensive backs coach John Richardson at Arizona before electing to stay in Tucson when the staff headed north to Seattle. His performance as a redshirt freshman was good enough to get him a transfer portal commitment to Miami, but he left after the spring and landed at Virginia, where he broke up 8 passes and intercepted another before reuniting with Fisch and Richardson for his fourth college football season. He'll be tasked with filling the shoes of Tacario Davis and Ephesians Prysock, who were both drafted into the NFL after locking down the boundaries for the Huskies last year. He doesn’t have the same size profile as those two or sophomore starter Dylan Robinson at "only" 6-foot, but his familiarity with the staff and proven production around the country bode well for his role on Montlake.

🔟 Huskies selected to @ShrinersBowl 2027 Shriners Children’s East-West Bowl 1000 watchlist. pic.twitter.com/C5y3EfpMMV

— Washington Football (@UW_Football) July 23, 2026

McLaughlin is a former FCS Freshman All-American at Northern Arizona who the Washington staff brought in last season to help bolster the safety position with Walters turning to more three-safety looks on the back end of the Huskies defense. Few FCS-to-FBS transfer portal additions were more successful, as McLaughlin earned honorable mention All-Big Ten and team defensive MVP honors after starting every game for Washington. With the size to play in the box but the coverage ability to hang with just about anybody in coverage, McLaughlin has the same benefit of Alexander of potentially entering the NFL right as their skillsets are held in the highest esteem. He is a perfect fit for the NFL’s pivot to bigger nickel and “apex” players like Kyle Hamilton of the Baltimore Ravens and Nick Emmanwori of the Seattle Seahawks.

Green told the media during spring practice that his aim is to win the Ray Guy Award this season, and he should be among the preseason favorites to take home the award. That could also roll forward into being one of the few punters drafted in the 2027 class. The first step in any of that will be transforming Washington’s punt unit, which struggled in just about every metric last season with Luke Dunne handling duties. Green, however, was No. 6 in the FBS in punting average, which should give Washington’s standout defense more opportunities to keep the Huskies in games.

Washington begins fall camp in early August, with the Shrine Bowl kicking off the NFL draft cycle at the end of January.

This article originally appeared on Huskies Wire: Profiling Washington's defensive players on Shrine Bowl watch list