Best Washington football players: Modern-era Mount Rushmore – From Steve Emtman to Jake Browning

The best Washington football players since 1980, including Steve Emtman and Jake Browning, are among the Huskies Modern-era Mount Rushmore.

While 2019 wasn’t exactly Washington football’s finest moment, the program has had more than its fair share of incredible players since 1980 and narrowing it down to four for a modern-era Mount Rushmore was incredibly hard to do.

The owner of one national championship in the modern era of college football, Washington set the standard in the late ’80s and early ’90s for what football should look like on the west coast. Then after some dark years in the mid-2000s, Chris Petersen brought the program back into the national spotlight.

The truth is, you need to look no further than the 1991, 2001 or 2016 teams, you could probably make a Mount Rushmore list from four guys on each of those teams. Before we get into who did make the list, let’s take a look at some honorable mentions who just missed the cut.

John Ross, Mario Bailey, and Reggie Williams could all be considered the greatest Husky wide receiver of all time. None of them made this list, nor did Vita Vea or Danny Shelton, who were both top 15 NFL Draft picks at nose tackle. Hau’oli Kikaha, Washington’s all-time sack leader, is also missing from this list.

You won’t find the owner of the only 300/200 game in NCAA history, Marques Tuiasosopo here either. It was tough to leave them off, but Corey Dillon and Napoleon Kaufman aren’t here either.

So without further ado… let’s get into the top four Huskies of the modern era!