Letuligasenoa, Ulofoshio Reclaim Husky Starting Jobs

The UW's two defensive mainstays served as reserve players against Arkansas State.

After pulling reserve duty against Arkansas State, defensive tackle Tuli Letuligasenoa and inside linebacker Edefuan Ulofoshio have returned to the University of Washington starting lineup for Saturday night's game against California, according to the team depth chart.

Both players surprisingly were relegated to back-up roles for the Huskies' 52-3 victory over the Sun Belt team.

However, UW coach Jimmy Lake indicated following the game that the 6-foot-1, 235-pound Ulofoshio, a sophomore from Las Vegas and a returning second-team All-Pac-12 selection, had been slowed by some sort of injury. He played sparingly in Saturday's game.

That wasn't the case for the 6-foot-2, 300-pound Letuligasenoa, a sophomore from Concord, California. He appeared to have no health obvious issues and simply stepped aside for Faatui Tuitele as the starter, though he pulled a lot of game snaps.

Apparently Letuligaseno graded out higher over the weekend than Tuitele, a 6-foot-3, 305-pound redshirt freshman from Honolulu, Hawaii, to reclaim his first-unit position. 

This was a little ironic because Tuitele came up with arguably the top play of the season by a Husky defensive tackle on Saturday. In the fourth quarter, he broke through and sacked Arkansas State quarterback Layne Hatcher so hard he caused a fumble that edge rusher Bralen Trice scooped up and returned 72 yards for a touchdown.

The Huskies are still waiting for someone among Letuligasenoa, Tuitele, Taki Taimani and Jacob Bandes, all starters at some point this season, to step forward and be a playmaker on the order of ex-UW defensive tackles Vita Vea or Greg Gaines, both now in the NFL.

Elsewhere, sophomore Richard Newton and redshirt freshman Cam Davis were listed once more as sharing the No. 1 running back position, though Newton has started the first three games.

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