Inside The Huskies

Ex-Husky Linebacker Heimuli Resurfaces with Georgia State

The defender goes from the UW to Arizona to the Sun Belt team.

Dan Raley

Daniel Heimuli goes from the UW to Arizona to Georgia State.
Daniel Heimuli goes from the UW to Arizona to Georgia State. / Zachary BonDurant/USA TODAY Sports

Daniel Heimuli is one former Arizona football player who won't be following Jedd Fisch to the University of Washington, with the senior linebacker disclosing on Friday he will transfer to Georgia State, a Sun Belt school in Atlanta.

The 6-foot- 225-pound Heimuli, of course, began his career at the UW. A highly regarded 4-star recruit from Menlo-Atherton High School in the California Bay Area, he stayed in Montlake for four seasons before getting suspended indefinitely by then-Husky coach Kalen DeBoer for his involvement in a late-night disturbance at a University District pub following the 2022 game against Colorado.

Heimuli played for Fisch in Tucson last season. After starting three of the first five games for Arizona, including against the Huskies. Heimuli came off the bench for all but one of the next six outings and he left the team before the season ended, missing the Arizona State rivalry game and the Alamo Bowl against Oklahoma.

Heimuli never really panned out after picking the UW over Alabama and others. He came in with the biggest reputation of a four-man linebacker class that also consisted of Alphonzo Tuputala, now set to become a three-year Husky starter; Josh Calvert , a sixth-year senior for Utah who spent two seasons in Montlake before playing the last three in Salt Lake City; and Miki Ah You, who gave up football after two seasons with the Huskies.

For the UW, Heilmuli appeared in 15 games, starting two in 2021, with one of them coming against Fisch's Arizona team in Tucson. While known as a hard-hitting player, he had trouble playing in a disciplined manner and often was out of position.

Daniel Heimuli (15) makes a tackle against Colorado in 2022 in what was his final UW game.
Daniel Heimuli (15) makes a tackle against Colorado in 2022 in what was his final UW game. / Joe Nicholson/USA TODAY Sports

At Georgia State, he'll join a team coming off a 7-6 season, capped by a Famous Idaho Bowl victory over Utah State.

Heimuli becomes the second former Husky to turn up in Georgia, with sixth-year senior cornerback Cam Williams now playing for Georgia Southern, which is 200 miles away in Statesboro. Their teams will meet on Sept. 28 in Atlanta.

For the latest UW football and basketball news, go to si.com/college/washington

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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.