UW Roster Review, No. 0-99: Tuitele Sits on Cusp of Playing Time, Keeps the Faith
Music echoes through Husky Stadium as players arrive for spring football practice. They wander into their position groups, pulling on helmets and casually chatting with teammates. They listen for the horn to sound, the one that suddenly turns everything into a mad scramble.
Except that Faatui Tuitele doesn't wait for it. He has a routine to follow, his own ritual to guide him, a personal timetable.
With teammates all around, the 6-foot-3, 310-pound defensive tackle drops to one knee. As if going into a dangerous ground battle or into severe air turbulence, Tuitele ducks his head, puts a hand on his helmet and silently says a prayer.
A minute later, he and the other 100-plus players on cue hustle to their different stations and the work begins, covering two hours of the morning, four times per week for a month in April.
The fast pace, the loud sounds and the simultaneous scrimmaging were meant to keep everyone interested and engaged, and encourage all of these Huskies to compete for depth-chart just rewards.
Tuitele remains possibly the most heavily recruited individual among this entire mass of college football humanity. He welcomed 38 or 39 scholarship offers coming out of high school and his final five choices resembled the highest rungs of a wire-service poll plus the hometown squad: Alabama, Clemson, Ohio State, Texas and Washington.
However, this redshirt freshman from Honolulu, Hawaii, is neither a star nor even a full-fledged starter. He's on the cusp of playing a lot, subbing in whenever the Huskies go with two down linemen and he drawing steady time with sophomores Tuli Letuligasenoa and Taki Taimani whenever the UW use three people up front.
Faatui Tuitele has made steady progress with the Huskies.
Dan Raley
Going down the roster in numerical order, this is the last of our post-spring assessments of all of the Husky talent at hand, gleaned from a month of observations, which was a way to keep everyone engaged during the offseason. Fall camp opens on Friday.
Tuitele wears No. 99, the last jersey on the roster, a digit previously made highly visible on Saturdays by a host of players. Double 9 once belonged to defensive linemen Greg Gaines, Terry Johnson, Bill "Goose" Glennon, Kurt Matter, Keith Navidi and Dean Browning, and even a huge fullback, Robin Earl.
Faatui Tuitele has one career start at the UW.
UW Athletics
Appearing in all four outings of the shortened 2020 season, Tuitele started his first Husky game against Utah. His team won 24-21 in a memorable comeback, but the outing was forgettable for the defense as the UW gave up an uncharacteristic 215 yards rushing. Tuitele didn't register a tackle.
The big yardage proved to be such a disturbing trend throughout that makeshift fall schedule, the Huskies felt compelled to experiment with beefing up their defensive front throughout the spring. A three-man configuration inside greatly benefits Tuitele by putting him on the field and removes a defensive back.
While Letuligasenoa and Taimani can be playful in practice, as shown in the dancing video, Tuitele seems more reserved. He's a tough kid from an island housing project known for its backdrop of late-night gunshots, drug deals and rats running across the floor.
"I do carry that pride and the sense that nothing's going to bring me down," he told the Seattle Times, "because I know what it's like to be from the bottom."
While his college choices proved endless and his football future looks promising, Tuitele never takes anything for granted, life or football. He understands the struggle, the hard work, the need to believe. He needs a moment to himself.
Time to say another prayer.
Tuitele's 2021 Outlook: Projected reserve defensive tackle
UW Service Time: Played in 8 games, started 1
Stats: 2 tackles
Individual Honors: None
Pro prospects: 2025 NFL second-day draftee
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