Inside The Huskies

He'll Be Ole Missed: Ex-Husky Nate Kalepo Joins SEC Team

The starting offensive guard joins in UW football exodus to the South.
Dan Raley|
He'll Be Ole Missed: Ex-Husky Nate Kalepo Joins SEC Team
He'll Be Ole Missed: Ex-Husky Nate Kalepo Joins SEC Team

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Washington Huskies

The SEC continues to pick through the remnants of the University of Washington's national runner-up football team to see what it needs, with Mississippi receiving a commitment from veteran offensive guard Nate Kalepo — the eighth Husky player or coach to turn to that opportunistic conference in two and a half weeks.

Of course, the other seven are all at Alabama in coach Kalen DeBoer, offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb, offensive-line coach Scott Huff and receivers coach JaMarcus Shephard, plus wide receiver Germie Bernard, center Parker Brailsford and quarterback Austin Mack.

On Thursday, the 6-foot-6, 327-pound Kalepo from Renton, Washington, also became the second Husky offensive lineman in two years to transfer to Ole Miss and play for coach Lane Kiffin, following former teammate Victor Curne, who started at tackle for the Rebels this past fall in his final college football season.

Chances are, Kalepo was looking for a little more visibility to market himself as a pro football player or just do something radically different to close out his college days.

He spent five seasons in Montlake, painstakingly having to go through Huff's development process and work his way up the ranks. He appeared in 42 games and started 18, including all 15 this past season.

Kalepo, the heaviest of the five players who made up the UW's Joe Moore Award-winning offensive line signifying it as the nation's best, proved to be a handful in pulling out and knocking opponents off their feet this past season. 

Pro Football Focus noted how he was an able pocket protector, giving up just one sack this past season in 572 pass-block snaps.

He also could be the most mischievous. Following the Pac-12 championship victory over Oregon, Kalepo spotted offensive tackle Troy Fautanu doing an impromptu on-field interview — with me — and ran over to add expletive-laced commentary about his teammate, with the video requiring a significant edit to clean it up.

Kalepo likely didn't feel a strong attachment to staying at the UW for another season because his entire starting offensive line has scattered, with each of the five starters passing on remaining eligibility with the Huskies. 

Tackles Roger Rosengarten and Fautanu each announced for the NFL draft, Brailsford committed to Alabama and fellow offensive guard Julius Buelow likewise had entered the transfer portal and at one point was said to be similarly entertaining a visit to Ole Miss.

While Kalepo emerged from the UW without any all-league honors, he proved to be a valuable commodity on the open market, reportedly also drawing attention from Miami and Ohio State.

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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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