Huskies Offer Hawaii Transfer Portal DL Jonah Laulu

The defensive tackle has two seasons of college eligibility remaining.

Looking to fix a porous University of Washington run defense, Kalen DeBoer's new coaching staff has made a scholarship offer to former Hawaii defensive tackle Jonah Laulu, now in the transfer portal. 

The 6-foot-6, 280-pound junior from Las Vegas is an overly athletic player who even started the 2020 New Mexico Bowl at tight end against Houston and caught a pair of passes, including one for a 4-yard touchdown on a shovel play, in a 28-14 victory.

Defensively, Laulu comes off a season in which he started 11 games and piled up 8 tackles for loss and 4 sacks among 34 total tackles for the Warriors, who finished 6-7. 

Jonah Laulu from Hawaii is in the transfer portal.  / Hawaii Athletics

Others likewise have spotted the disruptive potential in Laulu, with Georgia, USC, Miami and California also pursuing him and making offers. 

He chose Hawaii over hometown UNLV when coming out of Centennial High School. He has two seasons of college eligibility remaining. 

With the UW defensive line often described as playing soft, with former Husky starter Taki Taimani recently entering the transfer portal after failing to register a sack over 4 seasons, Laulu would provide a certain level of physicality. 

He has career defensive stats of 71 tackles, including 19 TFLs and 8 sacks. 

His most recent Hawaii season ended sooner than envisioned with cancellation of the Hawaii Bowl against Memphis for COVID reasons, and he entered the portal shortly thereafter. 

Laulu, who wore No. 99, played tight end for Todd Graham's team in 2020 because the Warriors were shorthanded at the position, but he much prefers concentrating on the defensive side of the ball. 

“Definitely good to be spending most of my time on the defense, that way I’m not overloaded in my brain thinking about it if I’m on the offense or if I’m in the defense this time,” Laulu told reporters at the beginning of this past season. “Last year I was going with the offense one day then the defense the next day. I’d come out green jersey, next day white jersey, next day green jersey. I was just switching between the offense and defense everyday. I definitely could do it but it was definitely strenuous. A little stressful, but I’ll do whatever it takes for us to win.”

The Huskies would gladly put him at defensive tackle and let him stay there. 

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