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Ex-Husky Onwuzurike Has Back Surgery, To Miss Entire Season

The NFL has been a health challenge for the defensive tackle.
Dan Raley|
Ex-Husky Onwuzurike Has Back Surgery, To Miss Entire Season
Ex-Husky Onwuzurike Has Back Surgery, To Miss Entire Season

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Washington Huskies

Eighteen months ago, Levi Onwuzurike was drafted by the Detroit Lions in the second round with the 41st overall pick. The struggling franchise was happy to have him, expecting big things.

The well-decorated University of Washington defensive tackle was full of bravado on draft night, mixing in expletives right and left while telling reporters how he was going to be an NFL difference-maker.

These days, the 6-foot-3, 295-pound Texan finds himself humbled in ways he never imagined.

On Monday, Lions coach Dan Campbell disclosed that Onwuzurike had back surgery earlier this month and would not play at all this season, a big blow to both the second-year player and the Lions.

"That's a little bit of a gut punch," Campbell told reporters.

While Husky teammate and edge rusher Joe Tryon Shoyinka reported to the Tampa Bay Bucs in peak condition, Onwuzurike showed up in Detroit with nagging back issues.

He played in all 16 games as a rookie in a backup role and collected 35 tackles but just one sack, and was considered an underachiever.

Onwuzurike was said to making great progress during his offseason workouts, but once he reported to training camp, he had greater back problems than before. He didn't appear in any games this season.

Campbell couldn't say whether back surgery would cure all of Onwuzurike's health drawbacks. In fact, he didn't sound reassuring at all. 

“Hopefully, this certainly helps,” the Lions coach said. “It’s a last resort, but he felt like that’s where he needed to go with it. Saw a number of doctors, and so we’ll see where it goes.”

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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.

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