Inside The Huskies

Isaiah Ward Hopes to Create Pressure-Packed Situation at UW

The Arizona transfer brings ample credentials, according to Pro Football Focus.

Dan Raley

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Once Bralen Trice declared his NFL intentions, the low-pressure light began blinking on the dashboard for the University of Washington football team.

After all, this very persistent guy coming off the edge for the Huskies led the nation two years running in quarterback pressures —  a whopping 70 each season — and now he was done with the college game.

Enter Isaiah Ward, whose 6-foot-5, 225-pound frame mixed with a significant amount of athleticism, should help restore some of the UW's hair-on-fire approach coming off the corner.

He's got top references, namely Oklahoma quarterback Jackson Arnold, who got strip-sacked by the then-Arizona edge rusher in such a fierce manner the Sooners player doesn't remember the Alamo (Bowl), with his turnover leading to a final score in the Wildcats' 38-24 victory in San Antonio.

Ward now plays for the Huskies who open spring ball in two and a half weeks and brings to them the third-highest number of quarterback pressures — 33 — accumulated by a freshman in 2023, according to Pro Football Focus.

This newly arrived Ward, of course, is the nephew of Bobby Wagner, the one-time Seattle Seahawks linebacker who just checked out of town, headed to the Washington Commanders as a free agent.

So no family dinners as envisioned, though that appears to be Wagner's loss. Ward is an aspiring chef, with a stated dislike for vegetables, who wants to own a restaurant someday.

Ah, back to the football menu. Ward is one of the more than a dozen Arizona players who followed Jedd Fisch to Montlake, accompanied by his older brother, Anthony, a linebacker who previously played for the UW before ending up in the desert with his sibling. But that's another story.

Isaiah Ward emerges from a sterling redshirt freshman season in which he started 11 of 13 games and finished with 30 tackles, including 5 tackles for loss and 4 sacks. 


He was never better than in the Alamo Bowl, when with Arizona leading 31-24, 5:28 on the clock and Oklahoma on its 39 and trying to mount a game-tying drive, the younger Ward shot through and made a beeline for Arnold.

In a three-man rush, he stunted to the inside, showed up in a hurry and swatted the ball out of the Sooner QB's hands. Arizona teammate Jacob Kongaika recovered it and returned the ball to the 19. Two plays later, the Wildcats put their final TD on the board and took down mighty Oklahoma.

In his final outing for Arizona, Ward was at his best with 5 tackles, which included a TFL, a sack and that forced fumble.

While Trice and fellow UW edge starter Zion Tupuola-Fetui took their veteran experience and moved on, Ward joins a position group that could offer a fairly entertaining competition to see who replaces the departed.

The Arizona transfer joins sophomores Jacob Lane and Lance Holtzclaw, juniors Zach Durfee and Maurice Heims, and hybrid senior Voi Tunuufi as job applicants.

Lane came in ready to play as a freshman last season and burned his redshirt year. Holtzclaw has a sack to his name from the Apple Cup. Durfee has become somewhat of a legendary figure after sitting out as a transfer and clocking only four plays against Texas in the Sugar Bowl. Heims is the UW's German import, while Tunuufi can't decide if he likes the edge or interior of the defensive line better.

However it shakes out, the Huskies should be operating at the right pressure levels.

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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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