Buddah Puts Himself In Mix to Start at UW Linebacker

Of all of the University of Washington's serious starting candidates at linebacker, Taariq "Buddah" Al-Uqdah, coming back from a knee injury, at one time might have been considered the fourth in a line of four candidates.

With the season opener drawing near against Washington State -- his former school and the team he got hurt against -- Al-Uqdah has moved much closer to the top of the candidates.

Maybe as high as the second candidate behind Jacob Manu. Maybe even as a first-teamer for the Apple Cup at the expense of Xe'ree Alexander and Zaydrius Rainey-Sale, who have been limited. He's been running with the No. 1 defense all week.

While Al-Uqdah has worked his way back to good health, the aforementioned three others each have dealt with nagging injuries throughout fall camp that alternately have put some of them in gold jerseys, kept them out of scrimmaging and sent the competition into question to the end.

"It adds a little fuel to him," linebacker coach Brian Odom said recently of Al-Uqdah's return. "I've seen maybe a different level of focus, not that it was negative in the past, but maybe a little more dialed in. And that also has to do with the room being more competitive.

"It's going to be hard to get on the field, hard to get snaps across the board because everybody has a case to get on the field."

Just 12 months ago in Pullman, Al-Uqdah was facing his former team and standing upright, trading shoves with Cougars center and ex-teammate AJ Vaipulu on a fourth-quarter pass play, when left guard Jonny Lester, another recognizable face, rolled into him from behind.

The blindside hit left him with an anterior cruciate ligament tear to his left knee that abruptly ended his season, just three games into it.

"It was tough for him and little to do about a former team -- that was just the ironic part," Odom said. "Him having to battle back off of that, I know he had a lot of high expectations for the season last year and it hurt."

Buddah Al-Uqdah and Alex McLaughlin make an Apple Cup tackle in 2025. | Dave Sizer photo

Al-Uqdah enters his fifth college season having started 20 of 26 games he's appeared in at WSU and the UW.

He has accumulated 131 tackles, including 8.5 tackles for loss, and 4 interceptions, 4 pass break-ups, 4 forced fumbles and 3 fumble recoveries.

Manu and Rainey-Sale were in recovery from knee injuries when last season began and haven't played alongside Al-Uqdah in a game yet.

Alexander finished last season with a rush, starting five games and being named LA Bowl defensive Most Valuable Player, so and he and the player named Buddah have never opened a game together.

Buddah Al-Uqdah with WSU tackles the UW's Giles Jackson in the 2024 Apple Cup. | Dave Sizer photo

It will be interesting to see who's ready to be a starter and who's not when the Apple Cup kicks off.

Don't automatically count out Al-Uqdah when the names are announced.

"It provides a veteran presence, for sure, when he's in the game," Odom said.

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