OK, So When Will ZTF Make His Triumphant Husky Return?

Zion Tupuola-Fetui stood on the sideline and cradled a football on Sunday as music cascaded loudly through Husky Stadium.

Soon the idled University of Washington outside linebacker was waving his hands to the beat.

Letting the song consume him, he took a few bouncing steps to a most apropos lyric: "This is how we do it."

Incredibly, the player christened ZTF next did a gentle spin move and then a more profound swivel, all shown in the below video.

What ruptured Achilles tendon?

This is a guy not quite four months removed from a seemingly devastating non-contact injury that sent him hopping out of Husky spring practice one morning and to immediate surgery.

Yet on the first day of UW fall camp last Friday, coach Jimmy Lake offset the sobering news of losing young inside linebackers Miki Ah You and Will Latu to personal issues by announcing that the 6-foot-4, 260-pound ZTF, now streamlined by losing 20 pounds with his continuous exercise in rehab, will definitely play this coming regular season.

"Zion is way ahead of schedule," Lake said. "He, for sure, will be seeing the field in 2021. It's exciting watching him. We knew he was going to attack his rehab. He is way ahead of where our doctors thought he would be."

While this was uplifting news for the UW football program — that one of its headliners, a prolific sacker and an All-America candidate when healthy, is well on his way back — the obvious question is when?

This is where everything remains a little murky. Lake seemed to enjoy being coy about the parameters that involve his sophomore defender. Everyone else went into a fast retreat.

"I'll just say our opponents better be ready for him," the coach teased with a smile, unwilling to give a timetable.

Defense coordinator Bob Gregory almost seemed to panic when asked about specifics for a ZTF return, saying, "That's news to me," before he acknowledged, "I think he's ahead of schedule. I think that's down the road a little bit."

We knew that.

Highly decorated inside linebacker Edefuan Ulofoshio likewise passed when asked if he and his teammates had an office pool going on his teammate's comeback moment.

Ulofoshio begged off with the following response, "You've got to ask Zion. You've got to ask Lake. That's a Lake question. I haven't really been bugging [Zion]."

However, ZTF is off limits. The UW used to permit high-profile injured players to speak with the media, remembering well-attended news conferences held for running back Greg Lewis, the 1990 Pac-10 Offensive Player of the Year, and quarterback Mark Brunell, the 1991 Rose Bowl MVP, but no longer.

So we'll come up with our own ZTF calculations. Look at all the factors involved with his potential moment of glory after he initially facing a lengthy 6- to 10-month rehabilitation period. Consider three options:

November 6 against Oregon

This has to be the very latest benchmark for this edge rusher supreme to pad up. Yet what an emotional boost it would be for the Huskies to have ZTF back for arguably one of the nation's five most intense cross-state rivalries and likely the biggest football game on the schedule. And it's at home.

A game-day appearance against the Ducks would mark nearly six and a half months following his tear. Lake said ZTF was way ahead of schedule, but he didn't indicate whether that referred to the front or back end of the original schedule.

October 16 against UCLA

In this earlier home unveiling, ZTF would return exactly six months following the rupture. This would match the low end of the recovery advisory, but it would still be way ahead of the longer range.

With offensive mastermind Chip Kelly likely bringing in a souped-up Bruins offense, the Huskies could put their orange-haired disruptor to good use in slowing it down.

September 18 against Arkansas State

OK, we're really pushing ZTF's rehab assignment here, with him playing in this early home game. It comes almost exactly five months following his flat tire. Yet this would enable the big Hawaiian to ease back into action before taking on all Pac-12 comers.

Gregory actually revealed that ZTF and inside linebacker Alphonzo Tuputala, sidelined with an undisclosed injury, both have been ruled out of the season opener against Montana on September 4.

Two weeks later than that doesn't seem so far-fetched for the big Hawaiian defender to be fully mended and making quarterbacks nervous again. He spends his days watching the beginning of practice, heading inside for an hour of treatment and coming back out as the workout winds down.

"You guys will hear about it when he's ready for it," Lake said of ZTF's game-day return. "It's all really his drive and competitiveness. He's itching and scratching to get back on the football field."

Hey, if this guy can already dance in early August, who's to say he can't two-step into an opposing backfield in another month?

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