Manu Named As Surprise Starter for Ohio State Game

Jacob Manu, the Arizona transfer who led the Pac-12 in tackles in 2023 and has been in recovery following a knee injury last season, was a surprise announcement as a starting linebacker for Saturday's Ohio State game.

The 5-foot-11, 225-pound Manu hasn't played since getting hurt against Colorado last October. He then transferred to the UW to resume his recovery.

He replaced linebacker junior Taariq "Buddah" Al-Uqdah, who earlier was ruled out of the game but turned up on the Big Ten availability list as officially out for the season. He suffered what was believed to be a knee injury suffered in the Apple Cup, going down against his former team in Washington State.

Al-Uqdah was one of five UW players deemed out for the season, joined by junior edge rusher Russell Davis II, safety Rahim Wright II, senior nickelback Dyson McCutcheon and redshirt freshman tight end Charlie Crowell.

Crowell missed the entire 2024 season and will sit out a second one.

Of five players ruled for Saturday's Ohio State game, a surprise was redshirt freshman Rahshawn Clark, who made his first career start in the Apple Cup and didn't appear to be injured during the game.

Also unavailable against the Buckeyes were sophomore wide receiver Rashid Williams, who will be out up to a month and a half after having collarbone surgery; senior safety CJ Christian, who has an unknown injury; junior edge rusher Jayvon Parker, still trying to return from an Achilles injury; and freshman linebacker Zaydrius Rainey-Sale.

Manu pulled the starting assignment instead of junior Xe'ree Alexander, who was a starting linebacker previously at Central Florida and Idaho.

Any ideas the Manu might redshirt seemed to be negated by his quick ascension into the starting lineup without having use another game as a test run.

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