Inside The Huskies

Taulapapa Plays Well for the Huskies, for Late Virginia Teammates

Tragic week comes to an end with the running back paying tribute on the field to his fallen friends.
Dan Raley|
Taulapapa Plays Well for the Huskies, for Late Virginia Teammates
Taulapapa Plays Well for the Huskies, for Late Virginia Teammates

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Washington Huskies

University of Washington Wayne Taulapapa sat down looking a little flushed, after going through both a week to remember and one to forget. 

On Saturday night at Husky Stadium, he was the offensive standout in the Huskies' 54-7 victory over Colorado while playing in his final game in Seattle. He rushed for a game-high 107 yards on 11 carries and scored on runs of 8 and 2 yards. 

Yet the Virginia transfer was still dealing emotionally with the death of three former teammates, wide receivers Devin Chandler and Lavel Davis Jr., and linebacker D'Sean Perry, plus the wounding of fellow running back Michael Hollins and another student in a bizarre shooting the previous weekend at his previous ACC school.

Arrested and charged by authorities in the tragedy was yet another one-time Virginia running back Christopher Jones, a walk-on who was with the team briefly in 2018.

Taulapapa knew them all and it was almost too much to deal with when the news came out of Charlottesville.

"It was tough losing people you learned so much from and people you love and you care about, especially those younger brothers," he said. "We were under Coach [Bronco] Mendenhall together and did the hardest things together. We were about as close ... I came in with [Jones]. I have no further comment on him."

Last Monday, UW coach Kalen DeBoer opened his regular briefing by acknowledging the Virginia tragedy and sending prayers. 

For the Husky game against Colorado, the 1, 15 and 41 hashmarks were painted in gold rather than white, to pay tribute to the three players who died with their jersey numbers spotlighted.

Taulapapa, after going through Senior Day ceremonies and greeting his parents before the game, wanted to salute his former teammates by playing well and he did. 

Wearing a Hawaiian lei around his neck, the Honolulu native looked a little teary-eyed as he spoke to reporters. DeBoer entered the room as he was leaving and the two had a long embrace.

"Monday was probably one of the hardest days receiving just some of the hardest news I received in my life," Taulapapa said. "It was really hard, but I had such a great support system here and with the coaches and them being able to embrace me. And my brothers here. It was tough."

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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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