Inside The Huskies

Kam Fabiculanan's Pass Theft Was Crime of Passion

The sixth-year senior safety is flourishing in his final trip through Montlake.

Dan Raley

Kam Fabiculanan makes a perfect break on a Michigan pass to make the interception.
Kam Fabiculanan makes a perfect break on a Michigan pass to make the interception. / Skylar Lin Visuals

The Washington-Michigan football game had no shortage of standout plays turned in by the home team, all of which produced the Huskies' 27-17 victory.

Denzel Boston caught his weekly touchdown pass, deftly delivered to him by Will Rogers. Demond Williams Jr. and Rogers teamed up for a clever double quarterback throw that ended up in Cam Davis' hands. Voi Tunuufi pulled off an emphatic hit and strip to force a late fumble. Jonah Coleman was his usual acrobatic and determined self diving over everyone and into the end zone for a game-winning score.

However, for sheer precision, anticipation and exclamation, none was more memorable than safety Kamren Fabiculanan's fourth-quarter interception. He made a perfect break on the ball and took it away from Colton Loveland, arguably the nation's top tight end and someone who had his way with the Huskies in the CFP national championship game. Fabiculanan made a savvy, veteran move.

"It was one of those times where he had a good feel for what was coming," UW coach Jedd Fisch said.

Indeed, he did.

The play began with the 6-foot-5, 245-pound Loveland, a junior from Gooding, Idaho, lined up to the right of the Wolverines offensive line. He ran 10 yards straight ahead, with linebacker Alphonzo Tuputala originally shadowing him, before Loveland cut across the middle, where Fabiculanan picked him up.

Quarterback Jack Tuttle, bouncing on his feet while standing in the pocket and surveying the field, honed in on Loveland and immediately regretted it when the player known as Kam Fab went fully extended to pilfer the ball with 3:24 remaining and protect the UW's 24-17 lead.

Asked about the play on Monday, Fisch went back five days earlier, to a moment late at night, where he encountered his sixth-year senior in the UW football offices.

"I told Kam in front of the team it was based on his preparation," the coach said. "He was up here Wednesday at 9:45 at night, watching the passing game and when there's certain indicators when they're going to run crossing patterns and in-cuts, and then you can take your jumps."

The 6-foot-1, 200-pound Fabiculanan is someone who has played in 40 Husky football games and started 17 times, including all six games this season. He's been around so long, he used to share in a little practice dance in 2021 with former UW cornerback Trent McDuffie, now with the Kansas City Chiefs. He filled in wherever needed last season, twice getting injured and coming back to play again.

Kam Fabiculanan celebrates his Michigan interception.
Kam Fabiculanan celebrates his Michigan interception. / Skylar Lin Visuals

He's been so devoted to the Husky program he went to a newly hired Fisch and informed the coach that he wanted to be known as the initial player to get on board with the new regime.

"I told him, 'I'm coming to you because I want to be the first one to be part of the team because I believe that keeping the tradition here, the winning tradition, is the standard and I want to be part of it,' " said Kam Fab, who remembered the new coach's reaction. "He smiled."

Nine months later, after running the video of Fabiculanan's interception against Michigan over and over, Fisch is still smiling.

For the latest UW football and basketball news, go to si.com/college/washington

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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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