Huskies Disappear, Don't Appear on Final Preseason All-America Teams

The current University of Washington football team, for all of its returning starters, intriguing newcomers and corresponding promise, won't be entering the upcoming season big-headed.

The Huskies still have a long ways to go in convincing everyone coast to coast that there's anything special about them, collectively or individually.

While they appear ranked in most Top 25 polls and multiple UW players have been feted in any number of ways over the previous weeks and months, the latest national recognition coming out all but ignores or minimizes these guys.

The recently released Associated Press preseason All-America team singles out 50 players for its first and second units.

No Huskies.

The ESPN preseason All-America team highlights 26 different players on its extended first squad.

No UW players.

"I like it better that way," said Luke Wattenberg, the UW's sixth-year senior center and a Rimington Award watch-list recipient.

Really?

For all of the high-end accolades previously showered on offensive tackle Jaxson Kirkland, cornerback Trent McDuffie, tight end Cade Otton and inside linebacker Edefuan Ulofoshio, and now it's nothing?

Actually, the Huskies got thrown a few crumbs in the past week, with multiple players curiously lumped together as if somebody suddenly realized it had forgotten Jimmy Lake's team and that he or she had better shoehorn the UW's big names in there somehow.

ESPN compiled its list of college football's top 100 players for the coming season and pegged Otton at No. 89, Kirkland at No. 91 and McDuffie at No. 92. Talk about close quarters. Not sure how Georgia running back Zamir Wright snuck in there at 90, breaking up this customized Tinkers-to- Evers-to-Chance combination.

Now this is not an effort to do what the UW should be doing — marketing its players far and wide to the outer reaches of the college football landscape. It just seems odd that one entity can suggest that Kirkland, Otton and Ulofoshio are the very best at their respective positions and others seemingly have never heard of them.

Of course, everything needs to be proven on the football field not on a personal laptop, but it seems the speculative momentum has suddenly shifted with how the Huskies are viewed and the season opener just a week and a half away.

Oh, wait a minute, this just in.

Sports Illustrated just released its latest NFL mock draft and Kirkland shows up at pick No. 31, going to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers with the next-to-last first-round section, nearly pulling a Joe Tryon.

In terms of college football's bells and whistles, there might be hope for these 2021 Huskies yet.

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