Grocery Stores Charge for Sacks; UW Defenders Should Do the Same
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As advertised, Kalen DeBoer was supposed to bring an offensive upgrade to the University of Washington football team. Yet with the defense, no immediate promises were made.
However, after four games, the Huskies have taken a definitive step forward on that side of the ball, too, with their eight-sack effort leading to a 40-22 victory over Stanford, even with a secondary that's been stripped bare because of injuries.
The UW has a front seven as active as any in Montlake since the CFP season of 2016.
"The energy was constantly, constantly contagious," linebacker Alphonzo Tuputala said. "We love it. We want to keep it going. That's the standard we uphold. That's what we always aim for for greatness, is to achieve and go beyond."
Grocery stores charge for sacks now. These Huskies should, too. Edge rusher Bralen Trice and Tuputala, both just sophomores, each had 2 against the Cardinal, giving them 4.5 and 3 for the season, respectively.
Another coaching staff might be using those two as backups for Zion Tupuola-Fetui and Carson Bruener, two highly accomplished players in their own right. Yet DeBoer's staff saw something in Tuputala and Trice that resonated as starters and they were duly rewarded.
Leading the Huskies in tackles with 23, Tuputala simply has been the best player in a linebacker position group that was greatly enhanced with the additions of Pittsburgh transfer Cam Bright, UAB transfer Kris Moll and previously Texas A&M transfer Jeremiah Martin.
Add to them sophomore Daniel Heimuli, a past starter who has been described as a violent player and has pulled significant snaps so far this season, and the aforementioned Bruener.
"The defense, man, every game we always emphasize energy, trusting on each other, loving on each other," Tuputala said. "That energy, everybody's going to want a piece of it."
Looking like his former self of 2020, which was pre-Achilles tendon injury time, ZTF registered his first sacks of the season against Stanford, sharing in 1.5. He was as slippery and unblockable as ever. Martin, who started opposite him, likewise had 1.5 sacks. Defensive tackle Faatui Tuitele and Bright each were credited with half sacks, accounting for all the defensive damage done.
"It wasn't just the guys you see who made those sacks; it was a bunch of guys," Tuputala said, referencing defensive tackles Tuli Letuligasenoa and Faatui Tuitele as unsung heroes. "Tuli, Tui, the front five, they were making it easier for us to get off blocks. They were making it easier to come out of there whether we were running stunt games or not."
Over four games, the current Huskies have piled up 15 sacks. In a dozen games last season, they had just 20. It's a different UW defense, for sure.
Eight sacks in an afternoon seems like an awful lot, though. Except to the guys making it happen.
"I know the next game, or the next few games, we're going to try to beat that," Tuputala said.
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