Inge's Advice to His Linebacker: Just Hand the Ball to the Official

Alphonzo Tuputala's 76-yard interception turned fumble rather than a touchdown continued to dominate the conversation.

Shortly after Kalen DeBoer and his University of Washington coordinators conducted their regular media briefing on Monday, Alphonzo Tuputala, who was at the center of a lot of questions, was nearby walking through Alaska Airlines Arena with teammates, looking stoic and only straight ahead.

It has to be tough for him going from Husky football hero for 76 yards with an interception to the object of a lot of unwanted attention for inadvertently dropping the ball on the 1 thinking the play was over and failing to get a sure touchdown.

While the junior linebacker hasn't been made available to the media, and might not be, UW co-defensive coordinator William Inge was asked what he said to Tuputala following Saturday's 35-28 victory over Utah at Husky Stadium.

"I told him that I love him and I appreciate the fact that he made a play, but also I know on my end as a coach, as a mentor, as a teacher, as a leader, I have to be different than the 15 million people in the outside world and tell him the coaching aspect of it all — hey, we have to give the ball to the official," Inge said.

It was that simple, according to the defensive coach, who informed Tuputala, should he reach the end zone again with a potential score, just hand the ball to a referee and leave nothing to chance.

"You know he didn't realize exactly what had occurred, because he wouldn't have done that on purpose," said Inge, who was an accomplished linebacker for Iowa in his time. "He owned it and said, 'Coach, I'm going to make up for it.' That's exactly the kind of football team we have from a brotherhood sort of thing."

Tuputala is a 6-foot-2, 240-pound junior from Federal Way, Washington, who has started all 23 games of the Kalen DeBoer era — just one of four players who can say that, along with offensive tackles Troy Fautanu and Roger Rosengarten, and quarterback Michael Penix Jr. 

This tough-minded player currently ranks third for the fifth-ranked Huskies (10-0 overall, 7-0 Pac-12) in tackles with 46, trailing only safety Dom Hampton's 70 and fellow linebacker Edefuan Ulofoshio's 65. He finished second in tackles in 2022, with his 71 trailing only safety Alex Cook's 82, on his way to being named as an All-Pac-12 honorable-mention selection.

It's almost hard to believe anything negative could come from a 76-yard interception return in a big game, but Tuputala fully understands it should have gone 77. He now must put it all behind him and get ready for a road game at 10th-ranked Oregon State (8-2, 5-2).

"He owned it, he accepted it," Inge said. "Obviously he does feel bad because he knows that it could have hurt the football team, but we were able to really coach and teach from this by being victorious, which is one of the better things. He knows he has to move on. 

"We want his leadership. He played his best game for us and we're going to need that again coming into this week."

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