Inside The Huskies

Former UW Linebacker Daniel Heimuli Will Transfer to Arizona

The defender left Montlake after receiving an indefinite suspension.

Dan Raley

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Reserve linebacker Daniel Heimuli, who parted ways with the University of Washington football program after drawing a late-season suspension, will play for the Arizona Wildcats, he announced on social media over the weekend.

Heimuli and fellow linebacker Ruperake Fuavai were dropped from the team after they allegedly became involved in an altercation with employees at a University District pub.

UW coach Kalen DeBoer confirmed Heimuli's indefinite suspension, but he wasn't asked about Fuavai's football absence. Each player was held out of the Apple Cup against Washington State and the Alamo Bowl against Texas before the entered the transfer portal. 

It's unclear how much the Arizona coaching staff knows about the incident.

On Nov. 20, several hours after the UW-Colorado football game, Heimuli, Fuavai and an unidentified person allegedly became unruly at Finn MacCool's Irish Public House, according to employees. Asked to leave at closing time, they resisted handing over their alcoholic beverages and multiple employees were punched, one employee told Inside the Huskies.

The 6-foot-2, 225-pound Heimuli, who has two seasons of eligibility remaining, largely was a reserve player for the UW, starting just two games over four seasons.

One of his game-opening assignments came in 2021 against Arizona, when he stepped in for an injured Edefuan Ulofoshio and and collected a career-best 8 tackles in a 21-16 victory in Tucson in what proved to be his best Husky outing.

Heimuli, who appeared in 6 games this past season, is one of several defensive players signed from the transfer portal by Arizona, joining one-time Oregon linebacker Justin Flowe, Georgia defensive tackle Bill Norton, California edge rusher Orin Patu and UCLA defensive lineman Tyler Manoa.

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Dan Raley
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.

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