Homegrown Starters Come at Premium for UW, WSU in Apple Cup

Just six of the 44 players in the opening lineup are locally produced.

Alphonzo Tuputala (11), shown jumping on Zach Durfee's back, is one of four locals who will start the Apple Cup for the UW. / Skylar Lin Visuals

For the 116th Apple Cup, the score coming in is Washington 4, WSU 2.

That would be the number of homegrown players starting for these state rivals as the ever-changing face of college football makes everything a little less traditional,, somewhat impersonal and much more national in scope.

Consider the Huskies will open with just four locals, two on defense and two more on offense, in senior linebacker Carson Bruener from Woodinville and senior linebacker Alphonzo Tuputala from Federal Way, and sophomore wide receiver Denzel Boston from South Hill and senior center D'Angalo Titialii from Auburn.

The Cougars will counter only with senior center Devin Kylany from Lake Stevens and sophomore running back Djouvensky Schlenbacker from Bellingham.

So much for winning the state recruiting wars. Don't be offended either if someone stands up in a team meeting room on either side of the state and asks, "What's an apple?"

One can almost picture Bruener standing in a classroom in front of a chalkboard and using a pointer to break down the merits of a game that favors the UW 76-33-6 and has been held for all except eight years since 1900.

"For the people who don't know the full history of the rivalry, especially new people coming in, that was a conversation for some of them, but they caught on pretty fast," said the linebacker from suburban Seattle and a legacy player as the son of former UW and NFL tight end Mark Bruener, who was from Aberdeen.

UW STARTERS	WSU STARTERS
WR -- Denzel Boston, South Hill, Wash.	WR -- Kyle Williams, Inglewood, Calif.
WR -- Giles Jackson, Antioch, Calif.	WR -- Josh Meredith, San Diego, Calif.
WR -- Jeremiah Hunter, Fresno, Calif.	WR -- Kris Hutson, Compton, Calif.
LT -- Soane Faasolo, East Palo Alto, Calif.	LT -- Esa Pole, Hayward, Calif.
LG -- Gaard Memmelaar, Middleton, Idaho	LG -- Rod Tialavea, West Valley City, Utah
C -- D'Angalo Titialii, Auburn, Wash.	C -- Devin Kylany, Lake Stevens, Wash.
RG -- Enokk Vimahi, Kahuku, Hawaii	RG -- Fa'alili Fa'amoe, Pago Pago, A. Samoa
RT -- Drew Azzopardi, Pacific, Calif.	RT -- Brock Dieu, Queen Creek, Ariz.
TE -- Keleki Latu, Sacramento, Calif.	TE -- Andre Dollar, Oklahoma City, Okla.
QB -- Will Rogers, Brandon, Miss.	QB -- John Mateer, Little Elm, Texas
RB -- Jonah Coleman, Stockton, Calif.	RB -- Djouvensky Schlenbacker, Bellingham, Wash.
ER -- Zach Durfee, Dawson, Minn.	ER -- Cyrus Webster, West Jordan, Utah
DT -- Sebastian Valdez, Spring Valley, Calif.	DT -- David Gusta, San Bernardino, Calif.
DT -- Jacob Bandes, Pittsburg, Calif.	DT -- Ansel Din-Mbuh, Aledo, Texas
ER -- Isaiah Ward, Ontario, Calif.	ER -- Raam Stevenson, Arlington, Texas
LB -- Carson Bruener, Woodinville, Wash.	LB -- Buddah Al-Uqdah, Los Angeles, Calif.
LB -- Alphonzo Tuputala, Federal Way, Wash.	LB -- Kyle Thornton, Upland, Calif.
NB -- Jordan Shaw, Los Angeles, Calif.	NB -- Kapena Gushiken, Maui, Hawaii
CB -- Ephesians Prysock, Canyon Country, Calif.	CB -- Stephen Hall, Memphis, Tenn.
CB -- Thaddeus Dixon, Los Angeles, Calif.	CB -- Tyson Durant, Copley, Ohio
S -- Kam Fabiculanan, Camarillo, Calif.	S -- Jackson Lataimua, San Bruno, Calif.
S -- Makell Esteen, Hawthorne, Calif.	S -- Ethan O'Connor, West Covina, Calif.
Locals in bold type

Looking over the projected starting lineups, players hail from 11 different states, in Arizona, California, Idaho, Hawaii, Minnesota, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, Utah and Washington, plus American Samoa.

More than half of the 44 starters for this game are from California, with the Huskies opening with 14 players from the Golden State and WSU answering with 9. The Cougars, however, have three Texans ready to go at the outset. The quarterback matchup has the UW's Will Rogers from Brandon, Mississippi, going up against John Mateer from Little Elm, Texas.

How about them apples?

In the Huskies' plush team room, the Apple Cup trophy sits in a case for everyone to see every day, as the spoils for the UW winning the game 24-21 last November on a walk-off Grady Gross field goal.

Still, Bruener, as a prominent local guy in this match-up, finds himself offering plenty of direction to his teammates, especially since the Huskies actually have a pair of rivalry games that keep them busy.

"It's hard to explain because obviously there's the Apple Cup and there's the other rivalry we have with the team down south," he said, referring to Oregon.

Yet in the Husky team meeting room, the Apple Cup trophy sits in a case for all of the players to see every day. On the wall, among goals laid out, it directs players to "Win In Washington."

The Apple Cup trophy is prominently displayed in the Husky team room. / Dan Raley

So while the birth certificates might not match up like they once did coming into this yearly battle, the UW-WSU football game still carries a lot of weight with people such as the linebacker from Woodinville.

"It means a lot to me," Bruener said. "i've grown up a Husky fan and been to almost every Applie Cup I could have attended. II's one where it means a lot and I tell everyone about that. Look at the case -- and we need to keep it in there."

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