Asoau-Afoa Missed Out on a Pick-6, But He celebrated Powell's Up Close

Sekai Asoau-Afoa is a support player for the University of Washington, a backup edge rusher who rotates in and out each Saturday, someone often behind the scenes.

Against Arizona State, however, the 6-foot-4, 263-pound senior put himself front and center a couple of times in the 15-7 victory, with the possibility of so much more happening.

On the sixth play of the game, Asoau-Afoa dropped a potential interception with plenty of open space in front of him, just missing out on what could have been a 45-yard interception return for a score.

"I was surprised by it," Asoau-Afoa said. "I wasn't ready for it. If it comes back this week, I'll be ready for it."

His fellow Husky defenders, of course, teased him unmercifully for being the lineman who missed out on a rare chance for touchdown glory.

Midway through the fourth quarter, the obviously nimble Asoau-Afoa escorted Mishael Powell much of the way on the nickelback's 89-yard pick-6 that made a winner out of the Huskies. He was careful not to clip Sun Devils quarterback Trenton Bourguet, the last man who could have stopped Powell, rather he just got in his way.

"Got to block for my guy and get him home," the lineman said of Powell.

This weekend, Asoau-Afoa heads to the South Bay to face Stanford in a neighborhood he knows well as a football player.

Before coming to the UW and joining Kalen DeBoer's new program, Asoa-Afoa played for the College of San Mateo, which is located just 15 miles from the Pac-12 school on I-280.

At the junior college, he appeared in six games for the Bulldogs and collected 20 tackles. A season highlight was Asoau-Afoa separating the football from an opposing running back with a crushing hit, picking up the fumble and running 26 yards to score.

He's finally settled in to a regular football routine after leaving Fife High School near Tacoma, where he teamed with Husky defensive lineman Ulumoo Ale; next played a season at Central Washington University before the COVID pandemic set in and briefly enrolled at Utah's Dixie State.

In his second season with the Huskies, Asoau-Afoa keeps receiving more and more opportunities to make things happen.

He started against Tulsa when fellow edge rusher Zion Tupuola-Fetui couldn't go, came up with 4 tackles in the big victory over Oregon and was credited with a pass break-up against Arizona State again when that ball hit his hands and then the ground.

He's happy with the way things have turned out for him in Montlake and, rather than bemoan the missed interception, he finds Husky football a big motivator for him.

"I definitely like wake up every day and just be like, man, I'm really blessed to have this opportunity," Asoau-Afoa said.

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