2022 Football Preview - DEFENSE

BOB SHERWIN • FOR GO HUSKIES MAGAZINE

As the season opened for the University of Washington football team a year ago it was apparent, a defensive flaw was exposed by Montana and the Huskies could do little to hide it, disguise it or fix it.

The Huskies couldn’t stop the run as the Grizzlies shocked Washington, 13-7, the Griz’ first victory over UW in a century. Next came Michigan at the Big House and Wolverine head coach Jim Harbaugh saw that flaw on the game film. Harbaugh’s most effective offensive play was the handoff. The Wolverines rushed a season-high 56 times for 343 yards and four touchdowns in a 31-10 victory. At a school that produced prolific passers Tom Brady, Brian Griese and Harbaugh, the Wolverines passed a season-low seven times for just 44 yards.

Oregon State, Oregon and Arizona State also followed that formula, rushing at least 50 times each in their victories during UW’s 4-8 season. Opponents on the season rushed 489 times and gained 2,323 yards with 21 touchdowns (as opposed to 1,720 passing yards and just six TDs).

“Stopping the run, obviously, is something we have to prove we can do, whether it’s with our personnel or schemes,” said UW first-year Head Coach Kalen DeBoer, whose schemes and defensive coaches are all new. “It takes a mindset; it takes a good understanding and trust within the players that the schemes are being executed.”

DeBoer, if he can help it, will have none of that this year. When DeBoer took the job in November, after Jimmy Lake was fired in his second year at Montlake, his highest priority was to eliminate that defensive deficiency. He’s building back his run defense by lining up plenty of hefty bodies to fill the gaps.

Junior edge rusher Zion Tupuola-Fetui (ZTF) will be the featured player on the line. His 2021 season was a virtual wipeout, missing the first five games because of injury and he never did recover the All-America form he displayed his sophomore season.

“ZTF coming back healthy now and hopefully getting back to what he was before he got hurt, that’s a big deal,” DeBoer said. “The other two defensive ends (sophomore) Bralen Trice and (senior) Jeremiah Martin are phenomenal football players. That edge presence is really where its starts, tackles for loss in the backfield, attacking the passer, just causing a lot of chaos.”

If the Huskies are looking for the critical 'the-back-stops-here' guy, it just might be junior Ulumoo (MJ) Ale, 6-foot-6, 344 pounds in the middle of the defensive line. Over the winter, DeBoer switched his position, from offensive line to the defense.

“We asked him to get a little bit quicker, we asked him to learn the techniques, and he had an amazing spring,” DeBoer said. “He is such a big, big, big physical human being. It’s hard to move him. And he lost a lot of weight, down to around 330 pounds.”

Two other players in the middle, junior Tuli Letuligasenoa (6-1, 313) and redshirt freshman Kuao Peihopa (6-3, 304), should be as difficult for opponents to handle as opponent broadcasters to pronounce. Letuligasenoa won Pac-12 honorable mention last season.

Injuries played a role in the disappointing rushing stats a year ago, with ZTF missing seven games overall but also linebacker Edefuan Ulofoshio missing six. The two played just one game together. Ulofoshio, a junior in his fifth season, started the first five games but then was injured against UCLA and missed the rest of the season. He then suffered a knee injury this winter and is not expected back until mid-October. Ulofoshio was a 2021 preseason All- American and on the Bednarik Watch List.

As a stopgap, the staff searched the Transfer Portal and brought in two linebackers. One is Cam Bright from Pittsburgh, where he was a team captain. He worked with the Huskies defense all spring and should be ready for the Kent State opener. The other is graduate senior Kristopher Moll from Alabama-Birmingham.

Still, there is plenty of linebacker talent, with junior Carson Bruener, the Huskies second leading tackler last season, and sophomore Alphonzo Tuputala, drilled extensively during spring practice. "I'm excited about that position,” DeBoer said. "I think it’s going to be a big area of growth for our team. They’re going to do the things they need to do to stop the run.”

In the secondary, the Huskies can measure what they lost by the 2022 NFL draft. Cornerback Trent McDuffie was taken in the first round with the 21st pick by the Kansas City Chiefs while his teammate Kyler Gordon was the 39th overall pick by the Chicago Bears. Two mighty pairs of cleats for the Huskies to fill.

The staff is hoping one corner will be manned by a Portal transfer (UC Davis), senior Jordan Perryman. “Pound for pound, he is one of the better players in our program,” DeBoer said. “He’s strong, fast and left an impression on our staff just how good an athlete he is.”

The other corner is expected to be sophomore Mishael Powell, who played in all 12 games last season, starting three. “Mish did a good job playing behind and learning from Trent and Kyler last year,” DeBoer added. “Now it’s his turn to really show what he can do.” The safeties are senior Alex Cook and junior Asa Turner. They are experienced and should provide secondary stability.

Junior Dominique Hampton has been moved to the Husky Position or nickel, sort of a hybrid between outside linebacker and DB. “He’s a just a great combination of size, speed and physicality,” DeBoer said. “He’s like an extension to the linebacker position but also gives us flexibility because he can blitz, and he can cover.”

That flexibility is no match for DeBoer, who for the past 10 months has had to fill holes and gaps, restore and recruit, embrace and release, tear down and restructure, fire up and put out fires. While through it all, always projecting and planning with his coaches how to maximize his given personnel. “I feel good about where we’re at, across the board both offense and defense, who we can put on the field right away,” he said. “Now it’s a matter of building that depth.”

DeBoer, with an .898-win percentage in his two head coaching college stints (Sioux Falls and Fresno), makes promises to no one this season, not his players for playing time nor the fans/administration for promising results. Even if he could, the aforementioned uncertainties cloud any projectability. But DeBoer does have a track record. In each of the five schools he was an assistant or head coach, that school’s record turned favorably around within one year. Fresno, for example, was 3-3 his first COVIDaltered season then went 10-3 last season.

“I’ve seen what 1-11 looks like and I’ve seen what 14-0 looks like,” DeBoer said last fall. “What matters are the little details and how we get there.”

What might be a rare break for UW’s incoming football staff is that their early season working conditions are beneficial. They begin the season with four straight home games, allowing the staff to sort out the personnel, set up the schemes and build momentum. The first two games, Kent State and Portland State, should be manageable, if the Huskies learn from their Montana experience. Those will be followed by tougher competition, Michigan State and conference-opening Stanford. Late in the season, however, the Huskies play on the road against their two biggest rivals, Oregon and Washington State.

“Some games early we have to make sure are not taken for granted,” DeBoer said. “That hopefully gets us off to a fast start. Then there’s the big one before the conference against Michigan State. But we can’t worry about them. The coach in me is only thinking about Kent State. But it is favorable, the (first) four games at home. We need to have Husky Stadium rocking,” he added. “We have to do our part by generating some excitement by the way we play and who we are.”

With all the changes within just one year, to the staff, to the roster, to the program, and to the conference, it might take a bit of extra time before we all discover who they are.