Inside The Huskies

House on Fire: UW Linebacker Named Big Ten Freshman of the Week

The first-year player had 3 tackles and an interception against Northwestern.

Dan Raley

Khmori House is shown before the Apple Cup kickoff.
Khmori House is shown before the Apple Cup kickoff. / Skylar Lin Visuals

In the race to see who will be top performing University of Washington freshman football player this season -- in a gilded field -- Khmori House just took the lead by a couple of lengths.

On Monday, the 6-foot, 214-pound linebacker from Pasadena, California, was named the Big Ten Freshman of the Week, an award considerably tougher to earn than in the Pac-12 because there are six more schools offering candidates.

The Big Ten teased how this Husky is becoming a "House-hold" name in announcing the honor, the first in-season accolade for any of the UW players, freshman or not.

Khmori House (28) chases after WSU quarterback John Mateer in the Apple Cup.
Khmori House (28) chases after WSU quarterback John Mateer in the Apple Cup. / Skylar Lin Visuals

House, after making his first career start in the Apple Cup against Washington State, came off the bench against Northwestern this past Saturday and provided 3 tackles and a fourth-quarter interception.

"One thing that makes him special is how hard he plays, how hard he practices," UW coach Jedd Fisch said. "He's going to go 100 miles per hour every chance he has."

House's depth-chart ascension has been badly needed by the Huskies, who recently lost two veteran linebackers, senior Drew Fowler and junior Anthony Ward, to injuries, and had starter and team captain Carson Bruener suffer a shoulder injury in the Apple Cup that made him leave the game with 8:14 left to play.

Fisch noted how House, who has 9 tackles for the season and a pass break-up, studies film alongside veteran linebackers Alphonzo Tuputala and Bruener, and has been getting tutored on the finer details of the position by Fowler.

"He definitely has picked up the defense," Fisch said. "He's really done a fantastic job of studying film."

House is one of four UW freshmen who have stepped up and made early contributions as the Huskies have won three of their first four games. He's joined by other first-year standouts in quarterback Demond Williams Jr., tight end Decker DeGraaf and running back Adam Mohammed.

For the latest UW football and basketball news, go to si.com/college/washington

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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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