In Spring Ball, Manu Looked Completely Recovered, Fearless

Husky Roster Review: The veteran linebacker showed no signs of his past knee injury and owned the field.

Jacob Manu awaits the next play in the UW Spring Game. | Dave Sizer photo

One of the endearing images from a month of University of Washington spring football practices was linebacker Jacob Manu repeatedly sprinting to the open field and dropping rushers and receivers dead in their tracks for lost yardage or no gain.

He was quick, fearless and physical at all times.

Early on, he welcomed touted freshman running back Brian Bonner to Husky football by putting him down for a 5-yard loss on a screen pass.

Manu reminded junior tight end Decker DeGraaf why he once led the Pac-12 in tackles by slamming into the veteran for no gain on a flat pass.

The tough little linebacker next filled up the hole over the middle and violently slammed into 6-foot-2, 240-pound running back Ansu Sanoe, bringing him down with little trouble.

Well into spring ball, he intercepted a Demond Williams Jr. pass and returned it 30 yards, stopping on his own only when orange cones set up for a drill near the end zone got in his way.

Manu no longer was limited by a knee injury, the ensuing recovery from surgery or eligibility rules that got in his way. He was a first-team All-Pac-12 linebacker three years ago. Why not carry it over to All-Big Ten recognition?

"The guy I've seen play this spring is the guy I saw in 2023 play," said UW linebackers coach Brian Odom of a then Arizona player who piled up 116 tackles to lead the Pac-12.

Jacob Manu had a productive spring football practice. | Dave Sizer photo

This is one in a series of articles -- going from 0 to 99 on the Husky roster -- examining what each scholarship player and leading walk-on did in spring practice and what to expect from them going into fall camp.

The 5-foot-9, 222-pound Manu clearly was one of the most productive players of spring ball as he prepares for a fifth and final season of college football.

Linebackers Zaydrius Rainey-Sale and Jacob Manu tangle in a spring drill in Dempsey Indoor. | Dave Sizer photo

"Your first last practice, boy," one of the Husky coaches good-naturedly reminded him on the initial day of spring ball in April.

He was slowed only during the third session when he limped off the field, got checked out by trainers, chugged a bottle of water and walked it off.

Otherwise, Manu played as if nothing had ever happened to him and finished the spring strong.

Jacob Manu awaits the next spring drill with Gatorade always near. | Dave Sizer photo

At coach Jedd Fisch's urging, Manu played in only four regular-season games and the LA Bowl last season in order to get a fifth year of eligibility.

The coach told the one-time Arizona transfer he could become a UW captain, get well paid in NIL compensation and better convince people he should be an NFL linebacker if he came back for the 2026 season.

While it was hard for him to sit out games, Manu went along with this plan and he never looked better during spring ball.

"I feel like coming back, that was kind of like me just getting used to it again," he said of his abbreviated 2025 season. "I still wasn't fully healed all the way. This year, I feel 100 percent."

What he's done: Manu should be eager to play a full schedule again after he was limited to a half season each of the past two years at Arizona and the UW. He admits now he wasn't 100 percent healthy when played against Ohio State, Maryland, Michigan, UCLA and Boise State. He enters the season with 241 career tackles, which includes eight games with 10 tackles or more, and that counts a 10-tackle game against the UW in 2022.

Starter or not: Manu has started 32 of the 37 college games he's played in Tucson and Montlake, and he's eager to put in another full season as the No. 1 guy on the second row.