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Washington Huskies linebackers coach Brian Odom had strong praise for head coach Jedd Fisch's program entering year 3.
Odom is entering his second season in the role after Fisch and defensive coordinator Ryan Walters hired him away from North Texas ahead of the 2025 season. He helped shape the room into arguably the best position group on the team, with returning veterans Jacob Manu, Xe'ree Alexander, Zaydrius Rainey-Sale, and Buddah Al-Uqdah poised to form one of the best units in the country this season.
Three of those returns came as expected: Manu played in only five games last season to preserve a redshirt so that he could come back and play another year for Fisch, who recruited him at Arizona, Al-Uqdah is coming off of a torn ACL so likely would have had a smaller market in the transfer portal, and Rainey-Sale is a Washington native who was one of Fisch's first big recruiting wins. But given their talent, and only 2 starting spots available in Washington's base nickel defense, the return of Alexander, who had an ascendant 2025 as the rest of the group battled injuries, may have been one of the Huskies' biggest wins of the offseason.
Asked about what Alexander's return says about his character, Odom lauded the overall program, calling it the best one he's been a part of in a 22-year coaching career that has included stops at Missouri, Arizona, Oklahoma, and USC.
"I think not only for [Alexander], but I think that speaks to the program, Coach Fisch and how he runs it. The defense with Coach Walters' system. I think you would be foolish to not want to be in this program after being in this program. If guys don't want to be here, to me, that's a little bit of a knock on the person that wants to leave here. This is the greatest program I've been a part of. It's awesome. The way this program is ran on a day-to-day basis, you don't find it anywhere. And so for guys who are weighing any kind of decision, that plays a big part in it," Odom told the media on Tuesday.
Odom also had specifics about Alexander's individual growth to praise, tying that in to his larger point.
"Now with X in particular, the growth that he had throughout the year last year, you know, he ended the season as the bowl game MVP. Why go somewhere else? Why go learn a new defense? Let's start from where you finished and build from there, because he was continuing to trend upward throughout the season," the linebackers coach said.
Asked what makes Washington stand alone atop his list of stops, Odom leaned on one of the central tenets of Fisch's program.
"Every facet of this program, from strength and conditioning, in terms of teaching guys how to be a pro, the organization that Coach Fisch has. The defensive scheme that we run, the offense that we face in practice. Everything about this program is building each player to be an NFL-model player. Of the ones I've been to, this was ran the best. This is the best program I've ever been in," Odom concluded.
Within Odom's answers on Tuesday lies the reason why Washington has been able to build a successful program out of the ashes of Kalen DeBoer's late departure before the 2024 season: high school recruiting and retention. Fisch has been adamant that he wants traditional recruiting to be the Huskies' main method of player acquisition, telling the media at Big Ten Media Days that he would like to get to a point where Washington does not take a single transfer. That's likely not realistic because of attrition year-over-year - the Huskies had 7 players drafted into the NFL, 11 players graduate, and 22 hit the transfer portal for a total of 40 outgoing players compared to an incoming high school class of 26 this offseason, but the goal remains clear nonetheless: identify talent in high school, develop that talent, and then retain that talent.
Alexander may very well end up as one of the success stories Fisch and company can point to in future years, as the linebacker himself said he'll keep the NFL door open if - when - he has a big year despite receiving a fifth season of eligibility thanks to new NCAA rules.
This article originally appeared on Huskies Wire: Washington football coach details why Huskies are "awesome" program
Continue reading...
Odom is entering his second season in the role after Fisch and defensive coordinator Ryan Walters hired him away from North Texas ahead of the 2025 season. He helped shape the room into arguably the best position group on the team, with returning veterans Jacob Manu, Xe'ree Alexander, Zaydrius Rainey-Sale, and Buddah Al-Uqdah poised to form one of the best units in the country this season.
Three of those returns came as expected: Manu played in only five games last season to preserve a redshirt so that he could come back and play another year for Fisch, who recruited him at Arizona, Al-Uqdah is coming off of a torn ACL so likely would have had a smaller market in the transfer portal, and Rainey-Sale is a Washington native who was one of Fisch's first big recruiting wins. But given their talent, and only 2 starting spots available in Washington's base nickel defense, the return of Alexander, who had an ascendant 2025 as the rest of the group battled injuries, may have been one of the Huskies' biggest wins of the offseason.
Asked about what Alexander's return says about his character, Odom lauded the overall program, calling it the best one he's been a part of in a 22-year coaching career that has included stops at Missouri, Arizona, Oklahoma, and USC.
"I think not only for [Alexander], but I think that speaks to the program, Coach Fisch and how he runs it. The defense with Coach Walters' system. I think you would be foolish to not want to be in this program after being in this program. If guys don't want to be here, to me, that's a little bit of a knock on the person that wants to leave here. This is the greatest program I've been a part of. It's awesome. The way this program is ran on a day-to-day basis, you don't find it anywhere. And so for guys who are weighing any kind of decision, that plays a big part in it," Odom told the media on Tuesday.
Odom also had specifics about Alexander's individual growth to praise, tying that in to his larger point.
"Now with X in particular, the growth that he had throughout the year last year, you know, he ended the season as the bowl game MVP. Why go somewhere else? Why go learn a new defense? Let's start from where you finished and build from there, because he was continuing to trend upward throughout the season," the linebackers coach said.
Asked what makes Washington stand alone atop his list of stops, Odom leaned on one of the central tenets of Fisch's program.
"Every facet of this program, from strength and conditioning, in terms of teaching guys how to be a pro, the organization that Coach Fisch has. The defensive scheme that we run, the offense that we face in practice. Everything about this program is building each player to be an NFL-model player. Of the ones I've been to, this was ran the best. This is the best program I've ever been in," Odom concluded.
Within Odom's answers on Tuesday lies the reason why Washington has been able to build a successful program out of the ashes of Kalen DeBoer's late departure before the 2024 season: high school recruiting and retention. Fisch has been adamant that he wants traditional recruiting to be the Huskies' main method of player acquisition, telling the media at Big Ten Media Days that he would like to get to a point where Washington does not take a single transfer. That's likely not realistic because of attrition year-over-year - the Huskies had 7 players drafted into the NFL, 11 players graduate, and 22 hit the transfer portal for a total of 40 outgoing players compared to an incoming high school class of 26 this offseason, but the goal remains clear nonetheless: identify talent in high school, develop that talent, and then retain that talent.
Alexander may very well end up as one of the success stories Fisch and company can point to in future years, as the linebacker himself said he'll keep the NFL door open if - when - he has a big year despite receiving a fifth season of eligibility thanks to new NCAA rules.
This article originally appeared on Huskies Wire: Washington football coach details why Huskies are "awesome" program
Continue reading...
