For Football Starters, Huskies Aren't As Bad Off As It Seems

UW has just two returning players who opened the CFP title game, but many more game-opening guys are on the roster.

Two starters.

It's the not-so-magic number these days for the University of Washington football team, one sure to draw widespread sympathy for going through such a sudden falloff in first-teamers but one that will lead to few preseason national rankings.

Yet there is another way to look at it for these reconfiguring Huskies, who count linebacker Alphonzo Tuputala and cornerback Elijah Jackson as the only returning front-liners from last month's College Football Playoff national championship game.

A quick perusal of the UW roster, which, granted, will change significantly between now and the beginning of fall camp, the Huskies actually hold up 22 players on scholarship who have started at least one game for a four-year university somewhere — collectively, 257 games in all.

So the Huskies, who clearly need more offensive-line help, aren't in such dire straits as the national prognosticators might have you believe.

Consider that they've picked up the following four well-utilized players from the transfer portal: Mississippi State quarterback Will Rogers, who had 40 starts for his SEC team, three coming in bowl games; Montana State defensive tackle Sebastian Valdez, who started 34 times at Montana State, including in eight FCS playoff games; San Jose State linebacker Bryun Parham, who had 25 starts for the Spartans, two coming in bowl games; and California wide receiver Jeremiah Hunter, who brings 23 starts to Montlake, including a bowl game.

Add to them Arizona cornerback Ephesians Prysock, a 16-game starter, which included the Alamo Bowl against Oklahoma; and his Wildcats teammate in edge rusher Isaiah Ward, an 11-game starter, who likewise opened the Alamo Bowl.

All of a sudden, the Huskies are up to eight double-digit starters, when counting Tuputala's 27 game-opening assignments and Jackson's 17.

Keep going, and the UW can offer up wide receiver Giles Jackson and safety Kamren Fabiculanan, who have 13 and 11 career college starts, respectively, though these two players weren't first-teamers when the CFP postseason run ended.

Mix in Arizona running back Jonah Coleman, with 7 starts; San Diego State offensive tackle Drew Azzopardi, who has 6 starts; and returning Husky linebacker Carson Bruener, with 6 career starts of his own, and immediately you have 13 players with plenty of game-day responsibility and production on their college football resumes.

From there, the list provides UW tight end Quentin Moore, with 4 starts; Husky running back Cam Davis and defensive tackle Jacob Bandes, each with 3 starts: defensive backs in the UW's Makell Esteen and Davon Banks and Indiana/Arizona transfer Jordan Shaw, plus Husky edge rusher/defensive tackle Voi Tunuufi and one-time Arizona State running back Daniyel Ngata, each with a pair of career starts; and the UW's Thaddeus Dixon, who started at free safety against USC last season.

That's 22 starters at some point in their college careers. If only more of them carried 300 pounds and could block at a high level, the Huskies would be all set.

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HUSKIES, START YOUR ENGINES

(Career Starts in Parentheses)

(40) Will Rogers — The new QB brings a 23-17 record as a starter from the SEC, including 2-1 in the Liberty, Armed Forces and Reliaquest bowl games.

(34) Sebastian Valdez — The Big Sky transfer has a 5-3 postseason record as a starter, including losing in the 2021 FCS national championship game.

(27) Alphonzo Tuputala — Hs has the most starts of any returning UW player, all coming over the past two seasons, including in the Pac-12 title game, Alamo and Sugar bowls, and CFP national title game.

(25) Bryun Parham — The San Jose State starts for this All-Mountain West honorable-mention selection.came over the past three seasons, which included opening the Potato and Hawaii bowls.

(23) Jeremiah Hunter — Among his nearly two-dozen career starts and 143 receptions, the 2022 All-Pac-12 honorable-mention pick opened against the UW at Husky Stadium this past season and caught a TD pass.

(17) Elijah Jackson — The other UW returning starter, he opened 15 games this past season and two in 2022, including starting against Fisch's Arizona team each year.

(16) Epheisans Prysock — The former Arizona cornerback started all 13 games this past season, including opening against the Huskies in Tucson and Oklahoma in the Alamo Bowl, and was named All-Pac-12 honorable mention.

(13) Giles Jackson — The wide receiver started four times for Michigan in 2019 and 2020, and was named All-Big Ten honorable mention as a kick returner the first season, before opening 3, 5 and 1 games for the UW in each of the past three seasons.

(11) Kamren Fabiculanan — Entering his sixth year in Montlake, the veteran UW safety has started 1, 6 and 4 games in the past three seasons.

(11) Isaiah Ward — The 6-foot-5, 225-pound edge rusher made all of his starts for Arizona this past season, which included games against the UW and Oklahoma. 

(7) Jonah Coleman — In two Arizona seasons, the running back started 2 and 5 games, opening for the first time this past season against the Huskies in Tucson.

(6) Carson Bruener — No one has had a better starting debut than Bruener, who opened for the first time in 2021 against Stanford, had 16 tackles and 1.5 sacks and was named Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Week, and pulled 5 starts that season.

(6) Drew Azzopardi — As a redshirt freshman, he started the final six games last season for San Diego State, originally replacing former Husky Myles Murao in the Aztecs lineup.

(4) Quentin Moore — Appearing in 28 career Husky games, Moore started twice in each of the past two seasons, opening against California and Oregon State in 2023.

(3) Cam Davis — The veteran running back made his first career start in the 2019 Las Vegas Bowl, opened against Colorado in 2021 and drew another start against Oregon State in 2022, and has appeared in 29 UW games.

(3) Jacob Bandes — The UW defensive tackle has started one game in each of the past three seasons against Michigan, Arizona State and Michigan State.

(2) Voi Tunuufi — As a freshman in 2021, he made his first career start as a DT against Arizona and Fisch, and followed up with another start against Oregon that season, and has played in 39 games for the Huskies.

(2) Davon Banks — The cornerback made his only career starts against California and Stanford in 2022 before suffering season-ending injuries to end each of the last two campaigns. 

(2) Makell Esteen — The safety started for the first time in his career this past season against Stanford and Washington State in the Apple Cup among his 23 UW appearances.

(2) Daniyel Ngata — For Arizona State, the running back made his starting debut against Wisconsin in the 2021 Las Vegas Bowl and drew another start against Stanford a year later.

(2) Jordan Shaw — For Indiana as a freshman, the cornerback opened against Wisconsin and Illinois, picking up 9 tackles against the Badgers in his college starting debut.

(1) Thaddeus Dixon — Normally a cornerback, the one-time JC transfer opened for the first time against USC at free safety, becoming one of five UW players to start at that position last season.

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