Voi Tunuufi Will Play Lots of Snaps for UW This Season, But Where?

The senior defender could fill up to four roles for the Husky stop unit.

Voi Tunuufi is ready to play wherever the Huskies need him one more time. / Skylar Lin Visuals

Jimmy Lake's University of Washington football coaching staff envisioned Voi Tunuufi as a defensive tackle, but Kalen DeBoer's crew saw him more as an edge rusher.

It appears Jedd Fisch's coaches have taken the high road and view Tunuufi as both, repeatedly moving the 6-foot-1, 282-pound player back and forth between those defensive-line positions during spring ball and fall camp.

Only Weber State will know for sure next Saturday night when the Utah team visits Husky Stadium to face the UW and the Wildcats try to locate the whereabouts of a Utah kid who just seems to wander through the Montlake football wilderness until he sacks someone.

At least Tunuufi can readily identify with his Husky position coach, Jason Kaufusi, who shares the same football roots. They both were defensive standouts for East High School in Salt Lake City, though Kaufusi did it -- winning a state title as a senior in 1996 -- a half-dozen years before Tunuufi was born.

After the CFP title game loss, Voi Tunuufi consoles the departed Asa Turner. / Skylar Lin Visuals

They seem to have made a solid connection as these two Utahns trying to make big things happen defensively, beginning with the Big Sky team arriving from Ogden, which is 40 miles north of their hometown.

"He has given me the opportunity, many opportunities, to do what I like," Tunuufi said. "He doesn't put any stigmas on my name where I have to play certain techniques, like 'Oh, you have to stay at the five (on the edge)' or 'Oh ,you have to stay at the three (between the guard and tackle).' He gives me that responsibility to take that ownership for myself and to be able to use my abilities to my best."

Entering his senior year, Tunuufi has more career sacks as a Husky -- 10 -- than anyone else on the roster. His last one came late last season against USC quarterback Caleb Williams, the 2022 Heisman Trophy winner and the most recent No. 1 overall NFL draft pick, for a 12-yard loss that helped wrap up a 52-42 UW victory last November in Los Angeles.

What's different about Tunuufi, who drew his only two college starts as a true freshman in 2021, is he's now one of the old guys for a Husky team that barely resembles the group that went 14-1 and ended up in the CFP national championship game against Michigan eight months ago.

"There's a lot of new faces this year, definitely, but everybody has their own path, and everybody is trying to get to where we're all trying to go, so it's been great having all these new faces," he said.
"But like you said, I definitely wish there was more faces here that I played with last year or years before. It is what it is."

Voi Tunuufi (52) and Alphonzo Tuputala (11) chase after a ball-carrying coach in spring ball. / Skylar Lin Visuals

With Fisch's staff finding many uses for him, the Huskies have lined up Tunuufi on the edge, often paired with junior Zach Durfee; in an interior stance, often next to Montana State transfer Sebastian Valdez; in a three-man defensive front, often with Sacramento State transfer Deshawn Lynch; or even on a speed-rush team, upright with up to three other natural edge rushers. Tunuufi is like where's Waldo?

It will be interesting to see if he settles into one role significantly more than the others, whether he starts again and how many sacks he finishes with at the UW. Hey, he'd probably play quarterback if they asked him, as long as he could hit somebody while doing it.

"Man I feel great right now," Tunuufi said of his 282-pound frame, his biggest as a Husky. "I feel like I'm in great shape outside, I feel good on the inside, I feel explosive in both positions, so I feel like I could get a little heavier for sure, but right now I feel like this is the best with speed and power."

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