Inside The Huskies

Tuputala, Most Experienced Husky on Roster, Hasn't Said If He's Returning

The veteran linebacker hasn't made himself publicly visible since the coaching change.

Dan Raley

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Alphonzo Tuputala is neither in the transfer portal nor publicly offering a show of solidarity for the new University of Washington football coaching staff.

The veteran linebacker — just one of two starters from the CFP national championship game still on the Huskies roster — remains inconspicuously absent from view as his football program has undergone dramatic change. He's laying low.

Yet even before Kalen DeBoer left for Alabama, Tuputala wasn't willing to outwardly commit for a sixth season of Husky football when pressed. 

"I haven't really been thinking about that, to be honest," he said at the Sugar Bowl. "I've just been so focused on what we've got now. ... We'll get there when we get there."

Chances are, the 6-foot-2, 240-pound Tuputala still needs to take stock of his personal situation and decide what's best.

If he returns, the linebacker will play for his fourth Husky head coach.

Should he come back, Tuputala will have the most experience of any UW player by a wide margin, having logged 27 starting assignments over the past two seasons for the DeBoer staff. The next closest is the other returning starter, cornerback Elijah Jackson with 17 career starts.

If the linebacker pulls on a uniform for spring practice, he'll be 36 months removed from tearing an Achilles tendon and having subjected himself to a long recovery.

The day following the national title game in Houston, Tuputala came up with what almost sounded like a farewell tone in his message when he addressed the end of a glorious 14-1 run.

"Gratitude and love from this team as the final chapter of our story is finished," he said. "The brotherhood is what we pride ourselves on and was truly our way of playing this game. Hopefully, when you turn on '23 Husky football, you see that."

More of a solid rather than a flashy player out in space, Tuputala is still living down his career blooper of returning an interception 76 yards against Utah and inadvertently dropping the ball on the 1 for a fumble rather than a sure touchdown.

Before DeBoer left, the 2024 Husky team had the potential to field a team as old and experienced as the most recent one, with Tuputala potentially turning up among nine more sixth-year seniors using pandemic freebies.

However, offensive guards Nate Kalepo and Julius Buelow, safety Asa Turner and nickelback Misheal Powell each entered the transfer portal, with Powell transferring to Miami, both guards to Ole Miss and Turner to Florida; and defensive tackle Faatui Tuitele retired from football after five physically demanding seasons on his body. 

That leaves just running back Cam Davis, recovering from knee surgery after a season away from football, plus safety Kamren Fabiculanan, defensive tackle Jacob Bandes and Tuputala as the graybeards for the coming Husky football team under new coach Jedd Fisch. 

Tuputala seemingly has to decide whether his football mind and body are up for another program relaunch.

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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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