Inside The Huskies

UW Roster Review, No. 0-99: ZTF Was Big Spring Loss, But Remains Team Presence

The Husky edge rusher got injured, but stayed highly visible in recovery.

Dan Raley

UW Roster Review, No. 0-99: ZTF Was Big Spring Loss, But Remains Team Presence
UW Roster Review, No. 0-99: ZTF Was Big Spring Loss, But Remains Team Presence /

Talent abounds for this University of Washington football team.

Personality is not far behind, with Husky players demonstratively celebrating their accomplishments during spring practice.

Yet both of those areas were diluted some in mid-April, when the UW's orange-haired, big-play and emotional-barometer edge rusher Zion Tupuola-Fetui came pogo-sticking off the Husky Stadium on one leg and crash-landed onto a training table.

The instant change in the Montlake football temperature was palpable.

The player they call ZTF was done in April with a ruptured Achilles, and possibly out for the fall.

Everyone, including the wounded warrior, seemed to take his mishap well, knowing that his Husky flat tire would be adequately replaced and he would be back soon enough, rolling down the football road again. 

But what nobody was willing to admit was this: No, not ZTF!!!

While others can replace his tackles and sacks, no one else on the UW defensive unit exhibits more of a football heartbeat than this guy.

Even laid up, ZTF seemed to control the conversation.

"He had a smile on his face and told me he's going to be back at some point in the 2020 season," UW coach Jimmy Lake said. "And I believe he will."

Tupuola-Fetui burst onto the scene in 2020 in a similar situation, only he replaced the injured and now retired Laiatu Latu, who was lost for good to a neck injury. 

In just four games, the 6-foot-4, 280-pound product of Pearl City, Hawaii — yes, the closest land mass to the infamous Pearl Harbor — established himself as a college football disruptor to be taken seriously.

ZTF came up with seven sacks, three forced fumbles, a fumble recovery and a defended pass.

He was named first-team All-Pac-12 and third-team Associated Press All-American.

Just like that, all Cinderella like, it was all taken away from the proud Hawaiian after it was handed to him.

"If you guys remember about a year ago, nobody was talking about ZTF," Lake said. "Nobody even knew those initials."

Going down the roster in numerical order, this is another of our post-spring assessments of all of the Husky talent at hand, gleaned from a month of observations, as a way to keep everyone engaged during the offseason.

ZTF wears No. 58, a number he has all to himself, one only he and a few others have made relevant to Husky football. Edge rusher Travis Richardson wore this shirt with relative success. Offensive tackle Kaleb McGary turned it into an NFL career.

Before he got hurt, ZTF was his usual playful self at practice. When a song by the late Rick James boomed throughout the stadium, he mouthed the lyric "Give it to Me" and did a few nifty turns while waiting for the next play.

The good thing about the Achilles injury is it probably keeps Tupuola-Fetui around the program for two years, one more than maybe planned following his 2020 success. His presence, even if he's not tackling and stripping opponents, still counts for a lot.

For the rest of Husky spring practice, ZTF was still as visible as anyone while simply riding — or falling off — his scooter, both of which he did in the middle of the field. No one has ridden a scooter any faster than him, especially when he zipped 60 yards in an instant, rhythmically flailing away like some Husky rower in a single scull.

As shown in the above featured photo, the attention-grabbing UW edge rusher was even on the phone during practice, communicating to the world. He was never far from the action, always supplying emotional support to his fellow Huskies, a notable presence even on one leg, posing for team photos.

The scooter, however, was an accessory ZTF needs to park once and for all.

ZTF's 2021 Outlook: Likely will miss the regular season with Achilles injury

UW Service Time: Played in 18 games, started 4

Stats: 23 tackles, 7 TFL, 7 sacks, 3 forced fumbles, 1 fumble recovery, 1 pass defense

Individual Honors: First-team All-Pac-12; third-team AP All-American 

Pro prospects: 2024 NFL first-round pick

Follow Dan Raley of Husky Maven on Twitter: @DanRaley1 and @HuskyMaven

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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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