Huskies' Tuputala Knows How to Rally From a Big Halftime Deficit

The linebacker has done it time and time again, dating back to high school.

Linebacker Alphonzo Tuputala had one Power 5 football scholarship offer — from the University of Washington.  It should have been 21. 

What's not to like about a big and fast defender who wants to be successful more than anyone else?

Consider his senior year at suburban Federal Way High School, with his team trailing 18-0 at halftime. Tuputala let everyone know he wasn't done that night, wasn't giving in, wasn't a quitter. He scored the winning touchdown himself in a 19-18 victory.

"I gave them a challenge, I gave them a talk, I gave them a speech," Tuputala said afterward. "That's what I do — I'm a leader. I said, 'You're either going to put your head down and lose or you're going to follow me into the trenches!' "

On Saturday night at Husky Stadium, UW players will follow Zuputala headlong into a new era of Husky football against Kent State, coached by Kalen DeBoer, one in which the linebacker has fought, scrapped and rebounded more than anyone else to become a first-time starter.

The 6-foot-2, 238-pound Tuputala beat out fellow sophomore Carson Bruener, a player with star quality himself, to open this game. Someday these two will play side by side. For now, it's Tuputala's turn to shine. 

A promotion for the player called Zo, with his steely gaze and rugged look, is a feel-good moment for everyone else on the roster, knowing his grit and devotion to the cause. 

While Tuputala was meeting during the week with media members, the Huskies' best linebacker, the injured Edefuan Ulofoshio, felt compelled to borrow a phone from a UW publicist and good-naturedly join in the questioning. 

It wasn't so much a prank as it was a way for Ulofoshio to share in Tuputala's good fortune. 

"First start at Husky Stadium," Ulofoshio pointed out. "How you feeling, man?"

To which Tuputala responded, "Just grateful, man. Putting on for my teammates, Husky Nation, my family, everyone out there."

Edefuan Ulofoshio presents his own question to Edefuan Ulofoshio / Dan Raley

Kalen DeBoer's new Husky coaching staff figured out right away what they had in the promising Tuputala once spring practice began.  

"People are going to know who he is in six months,” co-defensive coordinator William Inge promised.

In 2020, co-defensive coordinator Pete Kwiatkowski, now at Texas, was well aware of Tuputala's skill set, though the linebacker was running with the third unit at the time.

"Zo is a physical guy and he can bring it," Kwiatkowski praised.

As 2021 spring football began under Jimmy Lake's direction, the Huskies still knew who this guy was as he inched up the depth chart. 

"He's a big, physical kid who can run," concluded Bob Gregory, Kwiatkowski's replacement at UW defensive coordinator.

However, Tuputala's Husky football progress came to a sudden halt 18 months ago when he was in a spring-practice drill, going up against the Husky offensive linemen, and he felt something pop in his right foot. It was numb when he took a few steps. It was bad. He limped up the tunnel to learn his fate from the medical staff. He was informed he was done with an Achilles rupture, would need surgery and have to make a comeback.

He gingerly stepped into the shower and had the water rain down on him. He momentarily let his disappointment take over. That was it. 

"When I went to go shower, that was literally the only time I was ever going to cry, say all these things, doubt, feel sorry for myself," Tuputala said. "I promised myself that I wasn’t. This is the first and last time I’m going to do this. Once I got out of the shower, I went to the training room and told them, ‘What do we have to do?’ 

"That was my mindset every day: ‘I have to do more. I have to do more. I have to do more. I have to sacrifice myself. I have to sacrifice myself.' " 

The Huskies will have as many as five first-time college starters in the lineup for the season opener against Kent State, should redshirt freshman Kuao Peihopa step in for the previously injured Ulumoo Ale at starting defensive tackle.

Yet Tuputala, with his one Power 5 offer, his surgically repaired Achilles and his great resolve, seemingly has navigated a more challenging path to get there than the others.

While the DeBoer staff is the one that elevated him, believed in him and gave him greater responsibility, Tuputala will tell you he wasn't waiting for these new Husky coaches to show up to make his move.

"It was just my mindset before they got here, just bettering myself," he said. "It was a version of myself. I just focused on that and kind of flowed into it."

It's halftime again, he's trailing 18-0 and he's set the rules once more.

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