Inside The Huskies

Former UW Linebacker Tafisi Leads Utah State in Tackles in Debut

The Salt Lake City product went up against Jim Mora and the UConn Huskies.
Dan Raley|
Former UW Linebacker Tafisi Leads Utah State in Tackles in Debut
Former UW Linebacker Tafisi Leads Utah State in Tackles in Debut

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Washington Huskies

On the first Saturday of college football games, the University of Washington football team turned in yet another practice, with this one highlighted by a visit from Rose Bowl MVP and Hall of Fame quarterback Warren Moon, as it prepares for Kent State.

In Logan Utah, however, a couple of former Husky linebackers crossed paths in real time in a game nationally televised.

MJ Tafisi led the Utah State Aggies with 10 tackles in their season-opening 31-20 victory over Connecticut, a team now coached by Jim Mora that also answers to Huskies.

The 6-foot, 235-pound Tafisi appeared in uniform for the first time since last season's chaotic UW-Oregon football game, which brought total upheaval to the Montlake program.

Coach Jimmy Lake was suspended for shoving Tafisi's fellow linebacker Ruperake Fuavai on the sideline that day and fired a week later.

Offensive coordinator John Donovan was fired the day following the 26-16 loss to the Ducks for poor performance.

And Tafisi, without any public explanation, simply quit.

He didn't appear in the Oregon game, his first miss of the season while younger teammate Carson Bruener drew most of the snaps, and chances are that didn't sit well with him.

Either way, Tafisi walked away with three games remaining on the schedule.

Against UConn, the 6-foot, 235-pound junior from Salt Lake City wore No. 2 in an all-white uniform (he was 53 at the UW) before a crowd of 19,553 and that TV audience looking in. 

Tafisi helped the Aggies, coming off an 11-3 season, rally from a 14-0 deficit to defeat UConn and Mora at Merlin Olsen Field. He had 2 tackles for loss among his double-digit tackle total. 

The hard-hitting linebacker spent four seasons at the UW, appearing in 22 games and finishing with 40 tackles. He never started, which no doubt was a source of frustration for him.

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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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