Inside The Huskies

House Rules: Freshman LB Saved USC Game, Becomes Husky Fixture

The UW first-year player had a goal-line stop that won't soon be forgotten.

Dan Raley

Khmori House (28) celebrates with his Washington teammates after a big play.
Khmori House (28) celebrates with his Washington teammates after a big play. / Joe Nicholson-Imagn Images

The University of Washington football team was playing with House money. With five minutes remaining in Saturday night's game and USC going for it on fourth-and-1 to score a go-ahead touchdown, the Huskies put their freshman linebacker at the line of scrimmage and dared anyone to block him.

The result was a House arrest, a clearing House, a slaughter House, all in one.

No one put a hand on Khmori House. Revealing his intentions all along, the freshman came through a gap unheeded and got into the backfield so fast he blew up the play in stunning fashion -- and laid out running back Woody Marks with a crunching hit for a 3-yard loss.

"Khmori being a freshman, that specific play, he knew exactly what was coming, communicated beforehand and he just shot it," fifth-year Husky linebacker Carson Bruener said. "That’s one of those things where he’s just an instinctual player."

No UW freshman football player has worn No. 28 quite so effectively since an equally precocious Jacque Robinson as a ball carrier ran all over teams such as USC, Washington State and Iowa not long after enrolling in school, finishing up his debut season with Rose Bowl Most Valuable Player honors.

House similarly is a newcomer, the most advanced of the 19 first-year players on the Husky roster, now a four-game starter and a star in the making.

He's probably one of the bigger reasons San Jose State senior transfer Bryun Parham left the UW after four games and went back in the portal, no doubt concerned about losing playing time to his gifted, younger teammate.

House's presence also has enabled the coaching staff to use three-year starting linebacker Alphonzo Tuputala all over the field, including at edge rusher at times.

A product of Southern California's St. John Bosco High School football powerhouse, the 6-foot, 213-pounder arrived for spring football ready to play. Fisch's staff already knew all about him after trying to recruit him to Arizona.

He just showed up and confirmed everything they envisioned about him.

"Throughout spring ball, we started seeing the energy and the passion he played with," Fisch said. "In [fall] training camp, we started deciding as a staff, 'Let's not be afraid to throw a true freshman into games.' "

Khmori House chases after WSU QB John Mateer.
Khmori House chases after WSU QB John Mateer. / Skylar Lin Visuals

House has appeared in all nine outings for the Huskies. He has 26 tackles, 4 pass break-ups and an interception against Northwestern.

"He's so quick to diagnose players so then he can be explosive because he's fast," Fisch said. "You can clearly see that on the last play on the goal line."

Well, not everyone saw it. USC's Woody Marks only felt it as he lost badly on this real-estate deal. No one has been hit so hard by a House since maybe that witch in the Wizard of Oz.

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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