Experts Tackle UW Linebacker Corps and Results are Favorable

The Huskies will be at their best when Edefuan Ulofoshio returns to the lineup.

Edefuan Ulofoshio graduated last weekend at the University of Washington, with medical school a certain destination at some point. Yet what he needs to do now is re-enroll and take a full class load as a Husky linebacker. 

With fall camp just a month and a half away, the UW defensive leader remains in recovery from a winter workout knee injury with his return date not entirely clear. We've been told to expect him back sometime after the season begins.

Meantime, the 6-foot-1, 230-pound junior in college football eligibility continues to draw plenty of accolades in anticipation of him lining up once again in the Husky second row.

Remember, a year ago, Pro Football Focus named this Las Vegas product the nation's top returning linebacker for 2021 before went down with an arm injury at midseason against UCLA, something the Huskies couldn't afford to have happen. 

With a healthy Ulofoshio available, Lindy's ranks the UW inside linebacker corps as one of the top 10 nationally, and second in the Pac-12 only to Oregon.

Jack Follman of SportsPac12 ranks Oregon's Noah Sewell and Ulofoshio 1-2 in his conference linebacker rankings and lists three UW players among his top 10 individual backers. He has returning sophomore starter Carson Bruener at No. 6 and Pittsburgh transfer and new Husky Cam Bright slotted at No. 10.

Our @JackFollman's 2022 Preseason Pac-12 Linebacker Rankings

Full list and commentary:https://t.co/gzkNeAKxxB pic.twitter.com/35oMr7XeqR

— SuperWest Sports (@SuperWestSports) June 12, 2022

New coach Kalen DeBoer and his staff have gone to great pains to restock the UW linebacker and running back groups. 

Besides Bright, a 20-game starter for the ACC Panthers, the Huskies added UAB transfer Kris Moll, a 21-game starter in Conference USA and two-time, first-team all-conference selection. That's a lot of experience acquired. 

This spring, the coaches brought sophomore Alphonzo Tuputala along to the point he could step in and start on his own merits. Fellow sophomore Daniel Heimuli received a pair of starts in 2021 as a fill-in for Ulofoshio and is ready when needed.  

Lindy’s Top 10 LB Units in CFB for 2022:

1. Alabama
2. Iowa
3. NC St
4. Oregon
5. Kentucky
6. Clemson
7. Michigan
8. Florida
9. Virginia Tech
10. Washington

— WestCoastCFB (@WestCoastCFB) June 11, 2022

While certainly other factors were involved, Chris Petersen's Huskies went from the Pac-12's upper echelon — CFP appearance, Fiesta Bowl and Rose Bowl — to the more mundane once their linebacker corps fell off in 2019. 

This was such a glaring problem, the UW resorted to playing a young walk-on redshirt freshman a lot down the stretch, starting him after he earned Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Week honors and awarding him a scholarship in the offseason.

Of course, this was Ulofoshio.

The Huskies had him at his best for a four-game pandemic season, in which he was rewarded as a second-team All-Pac-12 selection. It lost him in game six against the Bruins last fall, a personnel setback that couldn't be understated. The UW dropped four of its final six games without him. 

Once he's ready to go, Ulofoshio will break out a new jersey number, switching from 48 to 4, but his return will count for a lot in turning things around in Montlake. He's one of the best in the country, let alone the Pac-12 — hence, all of these elite linebacker projections popping up — and Huskies are more than ready to welcome him back. 

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