Tuputala Confirms He's Coming Back, Ready to Provide UW Leadership
Alphonzo Tuputala, as much as anyone, needed to return as a University of Washington football player and keep things on the upswing.
With his team undergoing a significant rebuild following a coaching change after a national runner-up finish, the Huskies had to have a new leader emerge, preferably someone who knows how to handle adversity.
Tuputala, who reaffirmed in a social-media posting this week he'll back for a sixth season, qualifies as overly resilient on multiple fronts.
He showed up in 2019 as the least heralded of four new Husky linebackers — the others were Miki Ah You, Josh Calvert and Daniel Heimuli — and he turned out to be the best one.
Ready to make a big move for playing time in 2021, Tuputala tore an Achilles tendon during spring practice at the same time that teammate Zion Tupuola-Fetui ripped one and, unlike his more publicized teammate, almost no one knew what happened to Tuputala.
While installing Tuputala as a first-time starter in 2022, Kalen DeBoer's coaching staff continued to bring in veteran linebackers to try and unseat him, among them Pittsburgh's Cam Bright, UAB's Kris Moll and USC's Ralen Goforth, and he kept his job.
Then there are the fans. More than a few of them have wondered out loud why fellow linebacker Carson Bruener didn't start in place of Tuputala last season — a situation that could lead to them starting side by side this coming campaign.
Oh yeah, then there's the matter of that interception.
In what should have been a crowning moment for the linebacker, Tuputala intercepted a Utah pass last season and returned it 76 yards, tying him for the 14th-longest runback in school history.
Yet he inadvertently dropped the ball on the 1 for a fumble rather than finish off the play with a clutch touchdown.
In a close game, Tuputala had to deal with embarrassment instead of celebration, pull it together and play on.
In the accompanying highlight video on X signifying the linebacker's return, the interception is noticeably missing from the reel.
This Federal Way, Washington, product has dealt with all of the highs and lows of Husky football, the glory and the disrespect, and survived intact.
He's one of just two starters returning to reclaim some program momentum with Jedd Fisch in charge. It'll be a huge surprise if he's not a captain. He's leadership material.
If nothing else, Tuputala is back to hold off comers at linebacker again and maybe even intercept another pass and score this time.
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