Huskies Safety Alex McLaughlin Bets on Himself, Wins With Washington
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Washington Huskies safety Alex McLaughlin (12) celebrates with linebacker Deven Bryant (17) and cornerback Tacario Davis (8) after a play against Colorado State at Husky Stadium in Seattle, Washington on Aug. 30, 2025. Credit: Scott Eklund/Red Box Pictures/Washington Athletics [/caption]
SEATTLE, Wash. — They kept telling Alex McLaughlin he wasn’t good enough, but he believed he could play.
The head football coach at the University of Arizona in 2022 — some guy named Jedd Fisch — offered the skinny linebacker prospect out of Hamilton High School in Chandler, Arizona with the long red hair a walk-on opportunity with the Wildcats.
McLaughlin went another direction, and neither he nor Fisch had any inkling their paths would cross a few years later at the University of Washington. McLaughlin still has the flowing red locks, but he’s now a starting safety in the Big Ten who hopes to knock off No. 6 Oregon on Saturday.
“He’s 100% better than I initially thought,” Fisch said on Monday. “We miss in recruiting sometimes, and that was one of those that I felt, for where we were, that he fit in as a preferred walk-on. Instead, he chose to go to NAU on scholarship, and he was right.
“He bet on himself and won.”
McLaughlin believed the opportunity for a scholarship at a major football program would come by displaying his capabilities during games, rather than working his way up the depth chart behind scholarship players at Arizona or elsewhere. Rated a low three-star recruit by 247Sports, he went to Northern Arizona, started for two seasons. In 2024, he became an All-Big Sky first team selection and FCS honorable mention All-American as a sophomore after finishing with 96 tackles, including seven tackles for loss and 5 1/2 sacks to go along with two interceptions.
“(I) explained to him what it would be like to be a preferred walk-on, how he could earn a scholarship after a year,” Fisch said of McLaughlin’s high school recruitment. “And he said, ‘You know what, I’m gonna go earn my scholarship somewhere else, and then hopefully you’ll come back and get me.’’
Two years later, as the head coach at Washington, Fisch did exactly that.
“I just think Alex has done everything you could ever ask for,” Fisch said. “… So we’re really excited and grateful that he decided to give us a second chance.”
McLaughlin’s time talking to Fisch in Arizona, and his respect for new UW safeties coach Taylor Mays were major reasons why McLaughlin chose UW.
“I had a relationship with Coach Fisch in high school,” said during fall camp. McLaughlin said. “I knew these guys going into high school. I played against Coach Fisch (when Arizona played NAU in 2023). I know what he’s about. And once I found out the safeties coach was going to be Coach Mays, he coaches the type of football that I like to play, so it was a no-brainer for me.”
The move paid off for McLaughlin and the Huskies. Paired with sixth-year senior safety Makell Esteen, the duo eliminates opportunities for big plays against Washington. Keeping offenses from chunk plays is a big reason why the Huskies have not allowed more than 25 points in any of their 11 games this season.
As with the opportunity to play for an FBS team, the starting spot had to be earned.
McLaughlin spent much of spring ball on the second team. By late summer, he was running with the ones. When the Husky Stadium lights came on in the fall, he became one of Washington’s best defensive players. Playing mostly as a box safety in defensive coordinator Ryan Walters’ scheme, the 6-2, 200-pound junior leads the Huskies with 81 tackles and is tied for the team lead in interceptions (two) and pass breakups (6). He’s scored twice this season, returning UCLA’s botched fake field goal attempt for a TD last week and running back an interception against UC Davis on Sept. 6.
Both plays seemed to change the momentum of games that were competitive at the time. McLaughlin couldn’t decide which touchdown was his favorite.
“I’ve never scored two defensive touchdowns in a season before, so I like them both," he said. "But probably Washington State, because it was a rivalry game.”
Coaches expected aggressive tackling from their junior safety, but even McLaughlin has been surprised by his big defensive plays this season.
“He is instinctual,” safeties coach Taylor Mays said in August. “He’s a heck of a football player. He’s a guy that, for all the football he’s played, his ceiling is even still so much higher.”
