Two Husky names to Keep Track of During Spring Practice

Buzzers and whistles compete for attention at the lakeside practice field as University of Washington spring football practice suddenly turns into a post-dated Easter egg hunt.

Everyone scrambles in all directions, frantically moving to drill after drill with a morning breeze wafting off Lake Washington. Everything is scripted and timed. Nothing is done half way.

With spring football practice cancelled a year ago because of the pandemic, nearly half of the 109 players currently on the Husky roster had not experienced anything quite like this sort of April madness.

Eighteen starters return, which means this 15-workout exercise is more about the refinement of player skills than the search for job replacements.

Yet the beauty of this out-of-season football activity is when an unfamiliar number — at least one that hasn't shown up on game day in recent seasons — makes people reach for a roster to put a name with it because that guy keeps showing up in the middle of things.

On Wednesday, in Jimmy Lake's first spring practice after his promotion to UW head coach back in 2019, the Husky interlopers wore No. 51 in white and 26 in a purple shirt.

It wasn't All-Pac-12 offensive tackle Jaxson Kirkland, but No. 51 in a defensive shirt.

Jordan Lolohea.

He's a 21-year-old redshirt freshman.

A 6-foot-2, 270-pound outside linebacker from Salt Lake City, Lolohea hasn't played in an organized football game since 2016, when he and fellow Husky Taki Taimani, a defensive tackle, led their East High Leopards to a 14-0 record and a Utah 4A state championship.

He's since served a Mormon mission in Detroit.

With Laiatu Latu's football career suddenly ended by a neck injury, someone to move up the depth chart and fill that void.

It might as well be Lolohea.

In practice, he moved well while packing considerable girth. He resembled another thick but mobile Ryan Bowman.

He resembled a veteran player, though the roster said otherwise, making him as unique as anyone on the field.

Running at Lolohea at times during these padless plays was tailback Jay'Veon Sunday, almost begging anyone to hit him.

He was noticeable for two reasons.

Another redshirt freshman, Sunday lists at 6-foot and 210 pounds, but looks even bigger than that. Big like Richard Newton, whose Husky availability remains in question.

When practice began, UW players were yelling and hollering in the cascading chill, as if they'd all just taken a polar bear plunge in the lake. As practice resumed, the Huskies had turned businesslike and far less animated as the cold weather made them reserve energy.

Yet Sunday, on this Wednesday, never turned it off.

He dressed warmer than everyone, with his arms and legs completely swathed in white clothing.

More so, Sunday appears to have a personality that's hard to shut down. To the uninterrupted contemporary music piped across the practice field, the back from Waco, Texas, broke into extended dance moves as he awaited the next drill, leaving people laughing.

Lake mentioned how his young player was so hyped up he was ready for contact, even without pads on.

Best spring practice quote so far: "He's one of the guys I had to pull back and say, 'Hey, we're just in pajamas.' "

Don't sleep on Sunday. Even with three or four veteran runners ahead of him, he seems ready to make a push to play on Saturday.

So after 120 minutes of spring ball, there they are, Lolohea and Sunday.

Making people look twice at them. Look on the roster to find them. Look at the possibilities ahead of them.

Let's see where they stand five months from now.

Follow Dan Raley of Husky Maven on Twitter: @DanRaley1 and @HuskyMaven

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