Identity Crisis? No, Everyone knows Who Huskies' Taki Taimani Is
Meet Taki Taimani.
Or is it Sam Taimani?
Wasn't it once Sam Vakalahi?
The University of Washington's promising young defensive tackle has answered to more names, first and last, than someone enrolled in a witness protection program.
Because he's been a freshman and redshirt freshman, making him off limits for media interviews per school policy, the Salt Lake City product hasn't broken it down for the curious.
Nicknames? Family reasons?
Not even the school knows his past history.
His identity has been so confusing, in fact, USA Today listed two of his names in the same story -- as if he were two different players.
He's supposedly one of two Huskies who are referred to as "The Twins."
Maybe he's both of them.
No, the other definitely is fellow defensive tackle Tuli Letuligasenoa.
No matter what you call him, Taimani is a 6-foot-2, 327-pound sophomore and someone you might build a D-line around. Erect it around him and Letuligasenoa, two former four-star recruits, extra-large specimens and close friends.
So close, that everyone on the team refers to them as these so-called twins. Brothers in arms.
They're no Schwarzenegger and DeVito charade. These guys look and play like they could be related, though one's from Utah and the other from California. They seem to thrive on their Husky partnership.
"Tuli and Taki, they're connected at the hip," said Ikika Malloe, the UW defensive-line coach. "Different upbringing, met from different states, common bond. Both feed off each other. If one's down, both are down. If one's up, they're both up."
Noting the cosmic connection between the two bruisers, the Huskies have tried to play them at the same time to get the maximum benefit.
"I love the chemistry between those two guys," Malloe said. "It's like having the right hockey shift go in at the right time."
So they're the Hansen brothers, only bigger and meaner.
A prize recruit, Taimani chose Washington from 19 scholarship offers, which included the likes of Alabama, Notre Dame, Oklahoma State, Oregon, Tennessee, Minnesota and Wisconsin. Recruiters originally pegged him as an offensive lineman. Everybody wanted him.
He played in just one game in 2018 to preserve a redshirt and appeared in 13 games last season. He finished with 16 tackles, five of them coming against his home state school Utah.
Along with his running mate Letuligasenoa, he's waiting for seniors Levi Onwuzurike and Josiah Bronson to graduate so they can call the Husky D-line all theirs.
Who knows, he might acquire another name by then.
SUMMARY: Taimani enters the field in a second wave, working in concert with his twin. These brothers in arms don't go anywhere without the other.
GRADE (1 to 5): He gets a 3.5. He has to be patient. Or does he?
