Husky Roster Review: Goforth Comes in From Cold to Play at UW
On a cloudy afternoon in Husky Stadium, with the temperature never rising above 50 degrees, Ralen Goforth, a warm-weather person through and through, stood on the opposing sideline and shivered.
His visit to Seattle was miserable in every way. His USC football team lost 28-14 to Washington. His body likewise came in a distant second to the Northwest elements.
At the same time, Goforth looked around and noted how the Huskies seemed to have a tolerance to a chilly day, if not revel in it, as if they were hearty Vikings.
"I was telling the guys, the last time I was up here I just remember it was so cold," the linebacker said. "We're all freezing on our sideline and I just looked across the field and everybody was just standing there so calm, cool and collected, like the cold wasn't fazing them."
Yet Goforth, this dedicated Southern California guy, did the unthinkable — he gave up the relentless sunshine and moved to Montlake to finish his college football career, to be one of those durable ones.
Going down the roster from No. 0 to 99, Goforth, who wears No. 10 all to himself, is next up in a series of profiles about each of the Huskies' scholarship players and assorted walk-ons, summing up their spring football performances and surmising what might come next for them.
GOFORTH GOES ROGUE
Goforth, of course, will be a major player on the Husky defense. However, he might not start.
Seemingly, one of the reasons he left USC was because Lincoln Riley coaching staff came in last fall and made Goforth, a hard-hitting starter over two seasons, almost exclusively come off the bench.
He's now in the middle of an intense linebacker competition, maybe the best position battle on the team, that involves returning 13-game starter Alphonzo Tuputala, 2020 second-team All-Pac-12 selection Edefuan Ulofoshio and Carson Bruener, a 2021 five-game starter and a Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Week recipient that season.
All four are viable first-team candidates and will pull plenty of game-day snaps, but only two will get their names announced over the public-address system before kickoff.
Four years ago, Goforth and Ulofoshio drew special-teams duty in that USC-UW football game held in a brisk Husky Stadium, Tuputala was in uniform and didn't play, while Bruener still was in high school.
In the recently completed spring football practices, Goforth brought more than his physicality to the scrimmages, even showing the ability to get out and run a little.
"One thing I'm impressed with is he does some good things out in space and that's something I probably didn't know about him," said Chuck Morrell, UW co-defensive coordinator. "But he's also got a box presence."
Goforth has a better appreciation for those wind gusts coming off Lake Washington, swirling around the stadium and keeping things a little on the testy side, especially if they benefit his football team.
RALEN GOFORTH FILE
Service: Playing without a redshirt, Goforth appeared in 40 games for the Trojans and started 17 over three seasons. He opened all five games he entered during the 2020 pandemic season, eight of 12 in 2021 and four of 10 last fall.
Stats: Goforth piled up 149 tackles in his four USC seasons, with a career-high 12 against Utah in 2020 and 11 against Oregon State in 2021, and he provided a 31-yard interception return for a touchdown against Rice last fall.
Role: Ulofoshio and Tuputala ran with the No. 1 defense for much of the spring, but Goforth could move up with an exceptional fall effort and easily be a starter, more likely alongside Ulofoshio.
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