Injuries Begin to Pile Up at Alarming Rate for Huskies

The UW football team was missing a lot of players in Palo Alto.

In his postgame interview at Stanford, Jimmy Lake said he would address his team's injured players on Monday. That was a wise decision on his part. Had the University of Washington football coach tried to do this in Palo Alto, he'd be still sitting there, talking about them.

The Huskies have been hit by a wave of torn ligaments, broken bones and other ailments, significantly diluting the depth chart. They went without at least 17 players for Saturday night's 20-13 comeback victory over the Cardinal, though it's not clear whether all absences were injury-related.

"Unfortunately, that's how football goes," Lake said. "We had some injuries coming out of this game, as well."

At Stanford, reserve edge rusher Jeremiah Martin, the Texas A&M transfer, had to be helped from the field after getting left shaken up and possibly worse.

Sixth-year senior Ryan Bowman, a fellow edge rusher, was a surprising no-show for this road game after starting each of the Huskies' first seven outings. He didn't play against Stanford in 2020 either because of COVID-19 reasons.

Asa Turner, a sophomore and a starter at strong safety for the previous two games, wasn't available because of a shoulder injury he suffered at Arizona. He might be lost for the season.

Whether they were injured or held out for some other reason, redshirt freshmen defensive tackle Faatui Tuitele and inside linebacker Daniel Heimuli, both recent starters, didn't play at Stanford. 

Reserve edge rusher Bralen Trice and cornerback Jacobe Covington, weekly contributors coming off the bench or as special-team players, didn't get on the field against the Cardinal either. 

Tight end Jack Westover and inside linebacker Alphonzo Tuputala, after playing against Arizona, didn't appear at Stanford.

Starting left tackle Jaxson Kirkland, reserve tight end Quentin Moore and starting safeties Alex Cook and Cam Williams each were unavailable for the Cardinal matchup because of injuries suffered in any one of the previous three games against California, UCLA and Arizona.

As Lake earlier disclosed, starting inside linebacker Edefuan Ulofoshio and running back Richard Newton, who opened the first three games as the No. 1 rusher, were lost to season-ending arm and knee injuries that resulted in surgery, respectively.

Among the younger players, true freshman Kuao Peihopa has been dealing with a foot injury, redshirt freshman Sam Adams is out with a shoulder problem and redshirt freshman tight end Mason West has a lingering health issue. There's more than that who have been absent, too.

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