FOX Sports analyst ranks Washington football inside preseason top 25

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Heading into the 2026 season, the Washington Huskies are becoming a popular pick to take a big step forward in Jedd Fisch's third year at the helm.

With a talented, experienced offensive line in front of junior quarterback Demond Williams Jr., and a defense that is expected to be one of the nation's best under coordinator Ryan Walters after allowing 18.7 points per game in 2025, good for No. 15 in the country, most preseason rankings have the Huskies sitting somewhere between No. 16 and No. 20.

FOX Sports' RJ Young is a little lower on the Huskies, placing them at No. 21 in a ranking of all 138 FBS programs ahead of the season.

"In 2025, I compared Washington quarterback Demond Williams Jr. to Kyler Murray, and he still looks every bit the dynamo," Young wrote in his reasoning. "If the Huskies can develop a wide receiver as productive as Denzel Boston was one year ago, they can win double-digit games in the toughest league in the country. This also is Year Three of the Jedd Fisch experience in Seattle, and, if his Arizona tenure taught us anything, it’s that this is the year his teams tend to break through."

"Linebacker Jacob Manu is the best player on the Huskies’ defense. He has notched 241 tackles in 37 games, which ranks first among Big Ten defenders returning this season."

According to Young's rankings, the Huskies play three teams in the top ten: No. 1 Indiana, No. 4 Oregon, and No. 10 USC, along with one of the nation's lowest-ranked programs, No. 135 Washington State.

This article originally appeared on Huskies Wire: FOX Sports analyst ranks Washington football inside preseason top 25

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