Washington's secondary is already a spot where the Huskies are relatively light on experience. They were counting on several new faces to be in the mix for playing time this season, so the last thing UW needs right now is to lose some talent in the secondary, but that's exactly what happened yesterday. Senior Jordan Murchison, a 6-0, 185 lb. defensive back who is contending for a starting corner spot, was arrested and booked in King County jail for failing to appear in court on a felony charge. Ty Willingham wasn't talking yesterday, refusing comment until more information becomes available. Bob Condotta at the Seattle Times says that the the charge stems for an incident back on March 31st. Seattle Police reports say Murchison beat another man who was showing interest in his girlfriend. The man suffered damage to several teeth, reportedly losing one. Ouch.
However this isn't Murchison's first brush with the law. In fact this is his second stint in jail in three months, as he was arrested in June for domestic violence assault and harassment charges. This doesn't exactly bode well with the coach's image, wouldn't you say? It's all speculation, but it's easy to see a suspension on the horizon for what appears to be a young man with anger issues.
The other bit of bad news for the Husky secondary is that newcomer Byron Davenport suffered a hamstring pull in Tuesday's practice. Davenport is a highly touted JC transfer who is formerly known as Byron Velega, starting 12 games at corner for UCLA in 2005 as a redshirt frosh before leaving school on his own accord. Davenport was in the mix with, you guessed it, Jordan Murchison, for the starting role at corner opposite the lone starter back from last year, Roy Lewis. Now it's anyone's guess as to when either player will be back. Murchison is, of course, completely up in the air. And Davenport was looking a little out of shape according to some early articles, and now the hamstring pull could set him back for a while. Willingham speculated that it could be a couple of weeks for Davenport to heal, as those hammy injuries are always tricky to deal with.
Where does that leave Washington's corner spot? Well it's obviously open now to players that were likely competing as backups or the nickel position. In fact, Molly Yanity's P-I piece says that redshirt freshman Matt Mosley and true freshmen Vonzell McDowell and Marquis Persley will now all be a part of the competition. The worst part is these losses are coming at a spot where, even in spring ball, it was clear that the secondary was going to be one of the weakest positions on the team, and clearly a place where UW couldn't afford to lose players they perceived as potential starters.
Finally, the last injury note is also a big one. Senior WR Anthony Russo, a projected starter at one wide-out position, broke his pinkie on Tuesday and will miss up to four weeks. Russo will have surgery tomorrow on the finger, which in all likelihood keeps Russo sidelined for the opener at Syracuse.
