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UW Roster Review, No. 0-99: MJ Tafisi Feels, Plays Better

The inside linebacker shows no ill effects from the neck injury that cost him half a season.
Dan Raley|
UW Roster Review, No. 0-99: MJ Tafisi Feels, Plays Better
UW Roster Review, No. 0-99: MJ Tafisi Feels, Plays Better

MJ Tafisi might be the most courageous player on the University of Washington football roster. As fearless as they come. Brave beyond brave.

The sophomore inside linebacker is the only one who's been lifted off the field of a Husky game with a neck injury, strapped snugly to a stretcher, carted away from shaken teammates and transported by ambulance to a hospital, leaving behind a stadium hushed out of concern for him.

This happened 20 months ago in Tucson, Arizona, ending Tafisi's season after seven games. People had to wonder if he would ever come back. No one would have faulted him if he didn't.

After all, UW teammate Laiatu Latu wasn't nearly so fortunate when he hurt his neck last year in practice to the point it forced him into retirement after multiple medical opinions were sought.

Coming up and colliding with an Arizona player on a screen pass, Tafisi couldn't get up on his own power. He suffered a "stinger," best described as a nerve injury caused by his neck going one way and someone's shoulder moving the other direction.

More than a year later, however, the 6-foot, 245-pound reserve linebacker from West Jordan, Utah, played in all four games of the pandemic-interrupted season. In a 24-21 comeback victory over Utah at Husky Stadium, he even was named Special Teams Player of the Game.

In the recent spring drills, Tafisi drew high marks for regaining his old form. He completed 15 practices without any setbacks. He drew plaudits from the coaching staff.

"Man, you talk about a guy pulling the trigger and going and making plays," Husky coach Jimmy Lake said. "It's nice to see him back to what he was two years ago."

Going down the roster in numerical order, this is another of our post-spring assessments of all of the Husky talent at hand, gleaned from a month of observations, as a way to keep everyone engaged during the offseason.

Tafisi wears No. 53, a jersey he shares with no one else. For most of the spring workouts, he ran with the second-unit defense. In the closing spring game, he played for the Purple team alongside regular starter Jackson Sirmon and came up with 5 tackles.

As the Huskies continue to develop younger inside linebackers in Daniel Heimuli, Miki Ah You and Drew Fowler, Tafisi continues to keep his distance and protect what he has.

While he keeps a step ahead of those guys, Tafisi appears to be closing the distance between him and the starters. He's ready to play more if needed. At least his coach thinks so. 

"I'm extremely excited about MJ — he is pushing," Lake said. "If something happened, and he had to be the starter or if he eventually took over as the starter, it would not surprise me one bit. This is the best he's known the defense, the details of the defense, lining up."

His neck feels a lot better, too.

Tafisi's 2021 Outlook: Projected backup inside linebacker

UW Service Time: Played in 14 games

Stats: 20 tackles, 1 TFL, 1 sack

Individual Honors: Not yet

Pro Prospects: NFL free-agent signee

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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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