The Remaking of the Husky Defensive Line

It's unclear how effective Sekai Afoa-Asoau will be as a University of Washington defensive lineman until he actually gets thrown in there. He's done well at the NAIA and junior-college levels.

Yet this newcomer from the College of San Mateo by way of Central Washington University brings that sort of 1,000-yard stare that makes other people feel uncomfortable.

It's a look that new defensive-line coach Inoke Breckterfield exhibits whenever coaching his players or speaking about a position area that needs as much work as any the new staff has inherited.

While some might suggest the offensive line was a bigger problem child for the UW coming out of last season's 4-8 disaster, the interior defensive line at times seemed more in disarray, especially against the two best teams it went up against, Michigan and Oregon.

Among the damage: a whopping 343 and 329 yards rushing on those specific Saturdays, respectively, 193 on the average.

The first move was to hire Breckterfield, a no-nonsense guy from Vanderbilt and places such as Pittsburgh and Wisconsin before that. He helped groom NFL standouts such as Aaron Donald and T.J. Watt at the latter coaching stops.

Breckterfield is the third Husky D-line coach in as many seasons, following Rip Rowan and Ikaika Malloe, who are coaching these days at Georgia Southern and UCLA, respectively.

Athlon’s PAC-12 DL Unit Rankings for 2022:

1. Utah
2. Oregon
3. USC
4. WSU
5. Cal
6. OSU
7. ASU
8. UCLA
9. Washington
10. Arizona
11. Colorado
12. Stanford
— WestCoastCFB (@WestCoastCFB) June 14, 2022

Some of us were around to see Steve Emtman with steam coming out of his ears destroy everything that got in his way, including more than one teammate in friendly-fire incidents.

More modern UW followers are used to watching players up front such as Danny Shelton, Vita Vea and Greg Gaines dominate opponents.

Whether it was a drop in the Husky talent level, the coaching or the scheme, or all of that, there's just no other way to put it — for two seasons, these guys collectively were an absolute pushover.

Great to be back💯 @FifeFootball pic.twitter.com/MDYujgBiMr
— Kai Asoau-Afoa (@sekai_asoau) June 9, 2022

The 6-foot-5, 255-pound Afoa-Asoau, with two years of eligibility, is a subtle part of the fix.

Redshirt freshman Kuao Peihopa, injured nearly all of his first season in Seattle, represents the biggest solution as a young player with plenty of promise.

Breckterfield, so demanding as a coach and once deemed the best D-lineman in the conference while playing for Oregon State, is expected to be a difference-maker here.

When spring practice began, coach Kalen DeBoer admitted he and his staff were greatly concerned about the run defense. After watching Peihopa in action for the first time, they came away feeling much better about the Husky line.

Resulting turnover has seen Taki Taimani, who had no sacks in 29 games and 15 starts over four UW seasons, and Noa Ngalu and Draco Bynum, who had zero sacks in three and four seasons, exit the program for Oregon and points unknown, respectively. A three-player shakeup such as this is fairly significant.

With that, we'll review the remaining manpower that heads into fall camp, entrusted with making the Huskies much more ruthless and resistant. We do this by looking at eight scholarship players, sizing them up as if they were in hockey lines:

Tuli Letuligasenoa and Kuao Peihopa — The 6-foot-1, 313-pound Letuligasenoa was named All-Pac-12 honorable mention following last season and has been projected as a first-team selection entering this next one. What that says is the guy playing next to him often has been exceedingly soft. However, Letuligasenoa could stand considerable improvement in his game; the junior played in 28 games over four seasons, starting 12 outings, and he has just 2 sacks in his career. Last season, the 6-foot-3, 304-pound Peihopa mostly was a spectator while dealing with a foot injury. Early in 2021 spring practice, when he should have been a high school senior, he drew attention to himself by standing in there and trading punches with veteran offensive guard Nate Kalepo, unwilling to back down. He has star quality about him.

Voi Tunuufi and Faatui Tuitele — The 6-foot-1, 275-pound Tunuufi is a smaller version of Peihopa, someone who was ready to play as a true freshman. He appeared in 11 games, started two and came up with team-high-tying 3 sacks, which was two more than Letuligasenoa and Taimani, the starters, combined in 2021. This spring Tunuufi was inserted when the Huskies went with a three-man front. A sophomore, the 6-foot-3, 308-pound Tuitele missed all of spring practice with a foot injury. He's played in 17 games and started five, and he tied with Tunuufi last season for the team lead in sacks with 3, two of them strip sacks. How he fits with the new staff is unclear.

Jacob Bandes and Ulumoo Ale — Bandes, a 6-foot-2, 295-pound sophomore, has appeared in 18 games and started one, but he's still looking for more minutes and his first career sack. At this point, he's been passed by Peihopa and Tunuufi. Ale made the move from the offensive line and the early reports were favorable. He's been asked to play at 6-foot-6 and 330 pounds, dropping from a high of 368.

Siaosi Finau and Sekai Afoa-Asoau— Finau arrived in the same recruiting class with Peihopa and Tunuufi, but he redshirted this past season. Relatively new to the game, the 6-foot-3 player from the Seattle suburbs has experimented with his weight, having it fluctuate from 310 to 266. He remains an unknown quantity with the new staff. Afoa-Asoau, Ale's high school teammate, comes off a JC season in which he collected 20 tackles and returned a fumble 26 yards for a touchdown. He could stand to put on some weight.

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