Taimani Posts Photo of Himself in Oregon Uniform
At halftime of the Georgia-Michigan CFP game, former University of Washington defensive tackle Taki Taimani on Friday posted a photo of himself on social media wearing a green Oregon Ducks uniform.
No words, just an image.
The 6-foot-2, 330-pound junior from Salt Lake City stood in the middle of Autzen Stadium, peering skyward.
Naturally, the reaction to the implied portal transfer of Taimani to the Huskies' most hated rival was swift and brutal.
"Don't ever come back to Seattle dude," one UW fan cautioned in a Twitter reply.
"You are literally Judas if you pull this move," another sounded off on a social- media posting.
If this, indeed, is the case, that Taimani will spend his final two seasons playing for the Ducks, he needed just 15 days to find a new football program once he announced he was abandoning the Huskies following a disastrous 4-8 season that really took a turn for the worse ... against Oregon.
On that tortuous day in early November, UW coach Jimmy Lake was spotted during the game shoving one of Taimani's teammates, reserve linebacker and special-teamer Ruperake Fuavai, on the sideline, a misstep that led to Lake's suspension and ultimately his firing.
In the 26-16, Taimani was a Husky starter up front and finished with 4 tackles while the Ducks ran all over him and his fellow defensive linemen for 329 yards rushing.
Just weeks earlier, Taimani had spoken to the Seattle media about upholding the UW tradition of defensive-line excellence, but it never happened. The team lost its final four games.
Taimani was one of several Huskies who didn't play well while the program experienced its first losing season in a dozen years. He is one of six scholarship players who have left the team since Kalen DeBoer was hired as the new head coach.
If Taimani is a Duck, as he suggests, he will join incoming defensive linemen Ben Roberts, who played at his Utah high school, and Sir Mells, from the Las Vegas suburbs in the competition at his position. Those two recruits initially committed to the UW before rescinding their pledges and turning to Oregon.
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