Inside The Huskies

UW Roster Review, No. 0-99: Fuavai, Ward, McGannon Walk the Talk

Trio of Husky non-scholarship players showed up to compete without scholarships.
Dan Raley|
UW Roster Review, No. 0-99: Fuavai, Ward, McGannon Walk the Talk
UW Roster Review, No. 0-99: Fuavai, Ward, McGannon Walk the Talk

Ruperake Fuavai, Anthony Ward and Bradley McGannon represent names and numbers that spectators didn't easily identify with during the University of Washington football team's first spring practice held in two years.

But there they were, going through drills, standing in lines, responding to the whistle, living a dream.

They were defensive walk-ons who came from all directions to a program that welcomed them. 

Newly committed Texas running back Emeka Megwa, one of the most sought-after players at his position nationally, said one of the reasons he chose Washington over places such as Alabama and Notre Dame was Jimmy Lake compulsion to be a player's coach, that the Husky leader was someone who showed as much attention to the fourth-stringer as he did the starter.

Practice is hard for everyone, but it's especially demanding for guys such as Fuavai, Ward and McGannon, two inside linebackers and a defensive tackle, and all non-scholarship players. 

As part of a wieldy 100-man-plus roster, you never know if you're really making any progress, whether your position coach has noticed your improvement or whether you'll ever see the field on a Saturday.

Yet these three Husky defenders all press on, wearing numbers 56, 57 and 97, with only Fuavai having to share his jersey digit with someone else on the team, in this case freshman center Geirean Hatchett.

Going down the roster in numerical order, this is another of our post-spring assessments of all of the Husky talent at hand, gleaned from a month of observations, as a way to keep everyone engaged during the offseason.

Ruperake Fuavai

While a little on the slender side for a Power 5 linebacker, at 6-foot-1 and 225 pounds, Fuavai has a full name that stands out, that's hard to miss, that would make for a reasonable name, image and likeness deal. He's got to play to get the pay, though. 

He's another one of those guys who bravely passed up scholarship offers, with his coming from Oregon State, New Mexico and Idaho, to see if he could go head to head with a higher level of competition.

Fuavai, a redshirt freshman from Auburn, Washington, did this in high school, transferring from Thomas Jefferson High in Federal Way to Seattle's O'Dea High. It worked out as he became a 3A All-State selection.  

He'll try to do the same with the Huskies, where he ran with the third and fourth teams during the spring, and battle his way on to the field on game day somehow.

Anthony Ward 

Often playing the same position and lineup up side by side with Fuavai, Ward has gone through a bit of a physical transformation since leaving Colony and JSerra Catholic high schools in Southern California. 

Previously a safety and a running back with some linebacker experience, the 6-foot, 220-pound freshman has bulked up in order to concentrate on the latter position. He made progress in the spring game, coming up with three tackles for the Purple team.

Rather than run for touchdowns, as shown below in his leaner days as a footballer, Ward now tries to prevent them. 

He came to Washington after playing at Nick Harris' JSerra high school for two seasons before transferring to Colony ,and he just missed wearing Harris' Husky number by a digit (56). Maybe he can trade with Fuavai. 

Ward arrived in Seattle without any known scholarship offers, choosing to take his best shot at college playing time with Lake's team.

Bradley McGannon 

While nearly all of the Husky defensive linemen are imported from California, Utah and Hawaii, McGannon provides a local representative, coming in from tiny Yelm, Washington. 

Likewise, he's on the lighter side for what he does, packing a 6-foot-4, 270-pound frame that needs to fill out. Yet he's athletic enough for a big man, running for seven touchdowns as a high school senior for a team called the Tornadoes. 

McGannon had financial aid offers from lower-level schools such as Central Washington and Simon Fraser, but he committed to walk on at the UW. The freshman was credited with a tackle in the Husky spring game.

In last fall's season opener against Oregon State, McGannon turned up in the box score for the Huskies as having played, which would have been a huge if not unheard of breakthrough for a recently arrived walk-on freshman.

Alas, it was simply a typo. 

McGannon's immediate goal should be to make himself a point of record for the Huskies, an undisputed fact. A proven Saturday participant. A former Tornado that can leave a trail of football damage.

Consensus 2021 Outlook: All are projected as reserve defenders

UW Service Time: None

Stats: None

Individual Honors: None

Pro Prospects: None

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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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