Inside The Huskies

Ulofoshio Is Ready for Husky Defense to Return to Form

A UW spring emphasis is to make this an attacking, turnover-causing group.

Dan Raley

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Kalen DeBoer brought his high-powered offense to the University of Washington and it was something to see. Last year, no one could stop it.

Defensively, however, the Huskies were a patchwork crew, basically trying to hang in there without healthy or experienced cornerbacks. Linebacker Edefuan Ulofoshio was in recovery. The idea was to limit opposing offenses just enough to win.

This spring the emphasis has been in shoring up the UW defense to where it closer matches the team's offensive effectiveness.

The Huskies will be attacking more and trying to force the issue. The cornerbacks are new or, with the exception of Davon Banks, totally healthy. 

Best of all for the UW, the playmaking Ulofoshio is fully recovered from a pair of injuries that led to surgeries and lengthy rehab, and cost him 14 games over the past two seasons.

From practice glimpses, the Huskies seem to be looking to increase the pressure, not only from the edges but coming up the middle, and they might use a five-man front more often than not. 

Leading the return to general defensive mayhem and possibly many more turnovers will be Ulofoshio, who in 2021 was labeled the nation's top returning linebacker by Pro Football Focus. 

"It's a defensive school, man — Death Row Dawgs," he said. "That's the Lawyer Milloys. That's the Hao'uli Kikahas. That's all of those guys. We strive to be on that level."

In Monday's 12th spring practice of 15, the defense made DeBoer's spread offense look a little less potent than usual. New cornerback Thaddeus Dixon from Long Beach City College emerged with a pair of interceptions in the scrimmage sessions, each eliciting loud roars from his defensive teammates.

The Huskies basically could have starters or previous starters manning every defensive position except one.

Consider the starting history for these 11 prospective Husky first-teamers: edge rushers Bralen Trice (14) and Zion Tupuola-Fetui (9), defensive tackles Tuli Letuligasenoa (24) and Faatui Tuitele (18), linebackers Alphonzo Tuputala (13) and Ulofoshio (12), safeties Asa Turner (22) and Dominique Hampton (14), and corners Jabbar Muhammad (13) and Elijah Jackson (2), and Husky Mishael Powell (12).  

That's a lot of experience. Now all the defense needs is to take advantage of it with results. As a sixth-year senior who has seen it all in Montlake, Ulofoshio has very high expectations.

"So even when we don't hold up to it, like the standard is the standard," Ulofoshio said. "We're always trying to be the best defense in the league. We're trying to go down as one of the best defenses in Dawg history."

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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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