The Husky Freshman Most Ready to Play? It's Not Huard

A first-year newcomer from Hawaii, with his temperament and size, likely is the top candidate.

Under sunny skies, a perfectly peaceful fall football practice was rolling along on Sunday at Husky Stadium when chaos ensued. In an instance, a huge crowd of players got into it. 

Some were fighting. Some were trying to stop the fighting. For a few moments, it resembled an enormously angry rugby scrum.

In the middle of all this mayhem was Kuao Peihopa, who got involved, pulled away from the action and drawn into it a second time.

While that might not sound very disciplined, the 6-3, 300-pound true freshman defensive tackle from Makakilo, Hawaii, just outside of Honolulu, continues to earn the respect of his teammates and, though they would never show in relation to a skirmish, most likely his coaches, too, for his take-no-prisoners attitude.

He's physically and mentally ready for college football. 

Asked to name players who had stood out to him over the course of three practices, defensive coordinator Bob Gregory mentioned cornerbacks Trent McDuffie and Kyler Gordon, inside linebacker Eddie Ulofoshio and outside linebacker Ryan Bowman. He also brought up Peihopa's name.

"Kuao, as a young guy, is doing really well," Gregory said. "He's mature. He's certainly emotionally ready to play at this level. He's physically gifted, as well. He was not overwhelmed by coming here in the spring."

What that typically means with a true freshman, is this: if he's turning heads and ready to contribute right away, the guy is going to be an exceptional player in the long run. 

Defensive players such as Scott Garnett, Shaq Thompson, Desmond Trufant and McDuffie all are examples of true freshman who were ready to go once they stepped on campus.

It's almost certain that Peihopa, who got in a brief row during spring practice, likely is the first-year newcomer most ready to play among the likes of quarterback Sam Huard, tight end Caden Jumper and fellow defensive tackle Voi Tunuufi, each of whom participated in spring practice, plus every other freshman who just showed up for fall camp.

His short-fused approach has won him more than a few fans among his older teammates. Consider the large number of them that joined him in the player pile-up, even coming from the sideline.

"We definitely like it," Bowman said of Peihopa's temper outburst. "I know the coaches don't want us to like it, but energy is energy and we always going to feed off that. We're in camp, we like that energy. We want guys to be pissed. We want guys to be having fun. That's what it's all about."

Reaffirmed Gregory about the new guy, "He doesn't back down."

The 6-foot-1, 280-pound Bowman, of course, had to provide a football citizenship disclaimer so it looks like he's displaying the right kind of team leadership. He did the best he could with the Peihopa situation. He referenced the fall camp calendar.

"We definitely want dudes to have poise and not get us a penalty," he said. "It's only Day 3 and dudes are probably going to be pretty pissed moving forward. But in the second week, guys are probably going to be a lot more composed."

Either way, expect Peihopa to be on the field in some manner when the season starts up, using what he has to secure early playing time and maybe frightening some of his opponents for his fearlessness.  

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