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Inside The Huskies

Uiagalelei Says UW-Bound Brother Is Better Than Him

Whlle the older sibling tries to get drafted, he's happy his sibling is headed to the Huskies.
Dan Raley|
Tai'ita'i Uiagalelei spoke about his brother, a UW commit, at Pro Day.
Tai'ita'i Uiagalelei spoke about his brother, a UW commit, at Pro Day. | Dan Raley

Looking quite a bit slimmer, Ta'ita'i Uiagalelei earlier in the week went through Husky Pro Day with possibly a position change in mind.

The former starting University of Washington defensive tackle now carries a 6-foot-4, 270-pound frame, packing 15 fewer pounds than he did during the season, as it would be easy to presume he is returning to edge rusher, where he played started at Arizona in 2024.

Either way, he's done with the UW after one year in town, reluctantly so, though the Huskies are not finished in dealing with the Uiagalelei family.

A month ago, little brother Matamatagi Uiagalelei from Southern California high school football powerhouse Mater Dei gave his oral commitment to the UW, choosing the Huskies over Miami, Michigan, Missouri and others.

"I'm so excited for him," Ta'ita'i Uiagalelei said. "He's going to love it here. I love it here. I miss it so much."

The younger brother is a 3-star edge rusher who comes highly recommended -- from a self-deprecating source close to him.

"Honestly, you might be getting a better guy than me," Ta'ita'i Uiagalelei said.

The younger Uiagalelei is quite a bit smaller than his sibling, packing a 6-foot-3, 240-pound frame as he enters his senior year at Mater Dei, but he's said to be just as versatile, if not more so, because he's also a basketball player.

For an 8-3 Mater Dei team, where he was teammates this past fall with UW freshman offensive tackle Kodi Greene, he appeared in nine games and finished with 28 tackles, which included 6.5 tackles for loss and 3 sacks.

"He's got the toughness to play anywhere -- inside or out," Ta'ita'i Uiagalelei said.

Ta'ita'i Uiagalelei (11) and Jacob Lane (48) were pressed to come up with more sacks.
Ta'ita'i Uiagalelei (11) and Jacob Lane (48) were pressed to come up with more sacks. | Dave Sizer photo

While the older Uiagalelei prepares for a possible NFL career and has left Seattle in order to do so, he comes off a season in which he started all 13 games for Jedd Fisch's team and finished with 20 tackles, including 4 tackles for loss and a pair of sacks.

He was a space filler more than anything, helping keep teams from running all over the Huskies.

Even with all the big decisions going on at home in the Los Angeles area, he maintains he wasn't directly involved in his kid brother's recruitment. He just sat back and watched it all unfold.

"It was let him do his own thing," Uiagalelei said. "He made his own decision and I'm so proud of him. He's going to do great things up here."

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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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