Bleacher Report Includes Huskies in Its Preseason Top 25

The University of Washington turns up in yet another early college football poll.

Dan Raley | Jan 17, 2021

Bleacher Report, while acknowledging that guesswork is involved in this sort of exercise, revealed its super-early top 25 college football ranking and found a spot for the University of Washington, but just barely.

The Huskies occupied the 24th spot in the BR polling after turning up 14th and 15th in the ESPN and Sports Illustrated listings, respectively.

While giving an up-and-coming UW player kudos, Bleacher Report explained its fleeting affection for Jimmy Lake's team in this manner:

"Tough to glean anything meaningful from Washington's four-game season, but the Huskies went 3-1 and were competent while hitting the reset button under a new coach. Keep an eye on former walk-on linebacker Edefuan Ulofoshio, who averaged nearly 12 tackles per game as a redshirt sophomore."

Ulofoshio, a 6-foot, 230-pound junior beginning to build a national reputation, finished with 47 tackles, with 18 of them coming in his final outing against Stanford — the second-highest total in Husky history, behind only Michael Jackson's 20 in the 1977 Apple Cup against Washington State.

The inside linebacker stands to be the most heralded of the UW players coming back next season.

Bleacher Report, which is based in San Francisco, included four Pac-12 teams in its top 25, slotting USC at No. 8, Arizona State at No. 19, Oregon at No. 21 and the Huskies bringing up the rear.

The UW has 19 starters returning, including 10 on offense.

Bleacher Report's Top 25

1. Alabama

2. Oklahoma

3. Clemson

4. Georgia

5. Ohio State

6. Iowa State

7. Cincinnati

8. USC

9. Texas A&M

10. Indiana

11. Notre Dame

12. Florida

13. Miami

14. North Carolina

15. Texas

16. Wisconsin

17. Iowa

18. Coastal Carolina

19. Arizona State

20. Penn State

21. Oregon

22. West Virginia

23. North Carolina State

24. Washington

25. LSU

Related Early Top 25 College Football Stories:

Heavy on Starters, Huskies Appear in First 2021 Top 25 Football Ranking

ESPN Agrees with ESPN that Huskies are Top 25 Preseason Team

Follow Dan Raley of Husky Maven on Twitter: @DanRaley1 and @HuskyMaven

Published Jan 17, 2021

DAN RALEY

Dan Raley has worked for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, as well as for MSN.com and Boeing, the latter as a global aerospace writer. His sportswriting career spans four decades and he's covered University of Washington football and basketball during much of that time. In a working capacity, he's been to the Super Bowl, the NBA Finals, the MLB playoffs, the Masters, the U.S. Open, the PGA Championship and countless Final Fours and bowl games.