New Name Worth Looking At For DB Coach?

There’s a new name that could be worth watching in Notre Dame’s search to replace Irish defensive backs coach Todd Lyght.

Word trickled out on Friday that Jason Washington wouldn’t be retained by as cornerbacks coach for Texas under new defensive coordinator Chris Ash.

It isn’t clear if Notre Dame will seriously pursue Washington just yet, but on the surface, he appears to be somebody worth giving a look.

“He’s definitely a players’ coach,” Eric Nahlin of InsideTexas.com tells ISD. “He was one of the guys who related best with the players.

“He’s a really good recruiter. He relates to everybody.”

Washington, who also served as the Longhorns’ recruiting coordinator since arriving in 2017, was named Big 12 Recruiter of the Year following his first year in Austin.

“He can talk to any audience from a school president to a coach to a kid and be on their level,” one source says. “He has a dynamic personality. Everyone loves him.

“When Jason walks in the room, everybody lights up. It’s genuine. He’s lighting up the room and hugging up on everyone, he remembers everyone. That’s the kind of guy he is. He’s dynamic.”

Nahlin agrees.

“If I go anywhere in this state, it seems like I bump into somebody who knows Jason Washington,” he says.

Washington was at Houston for two years prior to following Tom Herman to Texas and spent time at Texas State and Rice before that.

“He’s had a ton of pros,” the source says. “He’s got a long list of guys who have gone onto the NFL. He’s a really good technician. I’ve worked camps with him, so I can tell you he’s super detail-oriented in terms of technique and fundamentals and all of that stuff and can also hold his own scheme-wise.”

Nahlin notes that Washington probably isn’t to blame for much of the Longhorns’ struggles against the pass this season.

“They have corners with good size and good physicality, and they were playing them off, which didn’t make any sense,” says Nahlin. “But that’s not his call. That was (former defensive coordinator Todd) Orlando’s call and Orlando got fired for a reason.

“They had injuries too and they’re still kind of young.”

Just a name to keep in mind for now.