3 New Husky Starters Seem Likely for Stanford Game
One of the red flags for an underperforming or injury-riddled football team, or both, is a continuous lineup shuffle.
Each week, new starters take the field, introduce themselves around and hope they can keep up.
The University of Washington can't print lineup cards fast enough to deal with all of the turnover this season — through seven games, the Huskies have started 38 guys in the 22 first-unit positions, 19 on each side of the ball.
Last week at Arizona, the newcomers were Troy and Voi.
As in redshirt freshman offensive tackle Troy Fautanu and true freshman defensive tackle Voi Tunuufi, who stepped in for the injured Jaxson Kirkland and Taki Taimani, respectively.
With a road game at Stanford up next, there's no reason to think UW coach Jimmy Lake won't turn to a few more new faces in his opening lineup.
The Husky leader never tips his hand when it comes to team personnel matters, but we think three first-time season starts seem all but assured for Saturday night's game, which kicks off in Palo Alto, California, at 7:30 p.m.
Zion Tupuola-Fetui
Coming back from his Achilles tendon injury and surgery in just six months, he drew 10 snaps against UCLA and 20 more against Arizona. This week, Lake stated rather emphatically that the sophomore outside linebacker's time likely will double his playing time once more against the Cardinal.
ZTF has needed just two test runs to check out the new tire and see how far away he was from being in game shape. In that case, he appeared to be as good as anyone on the field in what he does, by manhandling offensive linemen, making quarterbacks uncomfortable and picking up a sack at Arizona.
Besides, anyone who draws 40 plays in one game alone won't be doing it by coming off the bench. A healthy ZTF was a four-game UW starter in 2020 and the last team he started against ... was Stanford.
Dominique Hampton
Junior free safety Alex Cook went down in a scary manner against Arizona with a head injury late in the first quarter and was transported to a Tucson hospital. Hampton, a sophomore and a big body at 6-foot-2 and 220 pounds, filled in for him.
Cook is considered week-to-week in his recovery and he's been in concussion protocol.
Expect Hampton to open the game as the sixth different starting player for the Huskies at the two safety positions. This would be his first game-opening assignment at the UW, though he spent much of spring practice as a No. 1 guy on the defense.
Matteo Mele
The Huskies will never admit to this, but they got too heavy across the offensive line to be effective. Too many pounds, not enough mobility.
Hence, they're starting to offer playing time to lighter players such as the streamlined Mele, a 6-foot-5, 290-pound sophomore. Mele shared right-tackle snaps with sophomore starter Victor Curne against Arizona, replacing Curne in the second half for the second consecutive week.
Mele should prepare to be the starter at Stanford. He has one previous start on his personal ledger, opening against Arizona in 2019 — at center.
HUSKY STARTS IN 2021
Offense
Left tackle — Jaxson Kirkland (6), Troy Fautanu (1)
Left guard — Julius Buelow (5), Ulumoo Ale (2)
Center — Luke Wattenberg (7)
Right guard — Henry Bainivalu (7)
Right tackle — Victor Curne (7)
Tight end — Cade Otton (5), Devin Culp (2)
Tight end/WR — Jack Westover (2), Jalen McMillan (5)
Quarterback — Dylan Morris (7)
Tailback — Richard Newton (3), Sean McGrew (4)
Wide receiver — Taj Davis (4), Rome Odunze (3)
Wide receiver — Ja'Lynn Polk (1), Giles Jackson (1), Terrell Bynum (5)
Defense
Defensive lineman — Taki Taimani (6), Faatui Tuitele (1)
Defensive lineman — Tuli Letuligasenoa (6), Faatui Tuitele (1)
Outside linebacker — Ryan Bowman (7)
Outside linebacker — Cooper McDonald (7)
Inside linebacker — Edefuan Ulofoshio (5), Daniel Heimuli (2)
Inside linebacker — Jackson Sirmon (7)
Cornerback — Trent McDuffie (6), Mishael Powell (1)
Cornerback — Kyler Gordon (7)
Nickelback/DL — Bookie Radley-Hiles (4), Jacob Bandes (1), Faatui Tuitele (1), Voi Tunuufi (1)
Safety/DL — Julius Irvin (2), Cam Williams (2), Asa Turner (2) Faatui Tuitele (1)
Safety — Kamren Fabiculanan (1), Alex Cook (6)
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