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Even in Idle State, Ulofoshio Named to Butkus Watch List

The Husky linebacker still draws accolades in recovery from dual injuries.
Dan Raley|
Even in Idle State, Ulofoshio Named to Butkus Watch List
Even in Idle State, Ulofoshio Named to Butkus Watch List

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Washington Huskies

Edefuan Ulofoshio hasn't run around a college football field since October, but the Dick Butkus Award committee still has great hope for him. 

Coming off consecutive arm and knee injuries, the University of Washington linebacker earned a spot on the Butkus Award watch list for the second consecutive year — one of 51 players selected.

Ulofoshio, a 6-foot-1, 230-pound junior from Anchorage, Alaska, likely still doesn't know exactly when he'll return after injuring a knee during winter workouts, this after having his season end in the sixth game last fall with an arm injury near the end of a 24-17 loss to UCLA.

He joins eight other Pac-12 players who are in the running for the Butkus Award, which is given to the nation's top linebacker. 

The others chosen from the conference are Arizona State's Merlin Robertson, Oregon's Justin Flowe and Noah Sewell, Stanford's Levani Damuni, UCLA's Carl Jones Jr. and Darius Muasau, Utah's Mohamoud Diabate and Washington State's Daiyan Henley.

Among the so-called mega conferences, the SEC had the most LBs placed on the watch list with 12, while the Big Ten had just six, with three of them coming from Iowa.

Ulofoshio has flirted with greatness for three seasons now, but he hasn't quite been able to get over the hump.

He became a UW linebacker starter as a walk-on at the end of the 2019 season, being named Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Week even before moving into the lineup.

With a scholarship as an apt reward, Ulofoshio played in just four games in 2020 before the pandemic ended the Huskies' season. He still was named second-team All-Pac-12 for his superlative play.

Entering last season, Ulofoshio was promoted as one of the top linebackers in the nation, named to a few preseason All-America teams, selected to the Butkus watch list with teammate Zion Tupuola-Fetui and led the Huskies in tackles with 51 before going down.

The Huskies expect their veteran linebacker back sometime after the coming season begins, but no date has been offered.

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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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