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Inside The Huskies

Ulofoshio Never Gave Up When His Football World Turned Bleak

The Husky linebacker battled back from multiple injuries to become one of the nation's best again.
Dan Raley|
Ulofoshio Never Gave Up When His Football World Turned Bleak
Ulofoshio Never Gave Up When His Football World Turned Bleak

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Washington Huskies

NEW ORLEANS — Not everyone pronounces his name correctly — who can forget that ESPN-TV broadcaster speaking a different language while blurting out Ula-FO-she-AH! on his pick-six against California — but University of Washington linebacker Edefuan Ulofoshio otherwise has been easily identifiable this past season.

He was the Husky football player who went from wandering aimlessly in the college football desert for most of two seasons to finding his way home.

Ulofoshio not only pulled on his deep purple jersey and shiny gold helmet again, he became a starter, a co-captain and a top-of-the line player once more.

Over 13 games that each went directly into the win column, the UW defensive fixture performed as well as he has in his six seasons in Montlake and was duly rewarded for it.

Ulofoshio, whose Nigerian name ever so appropriately means "unafraid of war," received second-team All-America honors from Pro Football Focus and was a third-team All-America selection by the Associated Press.

The Pac-12 coaches singled him out as a first-team all-conference linebacker.

The Senior Bowl invited him to take part in what amounts to a week-long NFL scout audition.

His UW teammates showed Ulofoshio the ultimate respect by choosing him as their most inspirational player.

"The only thing I did was listen to my coaches and just tried to be the best player I could be," he said. "I'm super glad I trusted them and super glad I didn't give up when everything else was telling me to give up. It's been amazing. I'm speechless about it. Speechless to think about that."

Regardless of how the College Football Playoff turns out in the Sugar Bowl against Texas, Ulofoshio's final run through Husky football has been an unqualified success.

Yet the game owed him something positive after taking so much away and making him wait to share in the Huskies' newfound success with a new coach.

After going from eager walk-on to deserved Husky starter to Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Week to scholarship recipient to one of the nation's leading linebackers, all in that order, Ulofoshio lasted just six games in 2021 as his health and his football team came apart.

Against UCLA, he suffered a biceps injury that ended his season abruptly and led to surgery. His football team finished 4-8 without him. With him back on a full-time basis, the Huskies have been dead solid perfect.  

"Maybe it was mental, that it was earned, not given," Ulofoshio said comparing his worst Husky team and his best. "Both teams were talented, both teams had the ability be here. A little part of us thought we just had to do the work and it would come to us. We kind of learned that was never the case. You've just got to earn it. You've got to earn the respect of your opponent. You've got to get wins. 

"That's kind of what the difference was — us believing we could get there and going out there and being relentless toward getting it, as well."

Once Kalen DeBoer's coaching staff was hired and infused new energy into the badly listing program, Ulofoshio tore up a knee during winter workouts and had more surgery.

If that wasn't injustice enough, this always highly motivated individual — who's a pre-med student when he isn't leaving welts and bruises all over opposing players — was forced to stand there on the sideline while he recovered from his football double indemnity and just watch as everyone else on the Husky roster either stayed or got healthy and was able to directly share in the instant DeBoer success except him.

He missed 14 consecutive Husky games from the end of the Lake era and into the DeBoer regime. He didn't start a UW game for 23 months as he put his body back together. He was the last guy the new coach inherited with all sides eager to come together.

"You're just so happy for a guy like Eddie," DeBoer said of a healthy Ulofoshio. "He's so easy to root for, right, for as long as he's been here and the things he's been through."

One of the more endearing images of this DeBoer era so far is Ulofoshio, in his second game back in 2022, running up the coach in the middle of the field and giving him an emotional bear hug after the Huskies beat Oregon 37-34 in Eugene.

Defeating the Ducks a second time 36-33 this season in Seattle, followed by a 52-42 victory over USC in Los Angeles, made everyone believers that really big things could happen for the UW.

"Winning that [Oregon] game in that way was super special and then being able to go into the Coliseum where historically we don't do well in and to win that game, and to do that in Arizona and win that game, and being able to knock off certain things this school hasn't really been able to to do in a consistent basis to win, you can tell it was a special year," Ulofoshio said.

This season, Ulofoshio has run sideline to sideline in keeping the Huskies unbeaten and getting his defense off the field whenever he can. He's second in the team in tackles with 83, has 3 sacks and that 45-yard interception return for a touchdown against Cal in a well-rounded showing.

Here's thinking that overly excitable and tongue-stumbling ESPN broadcaster now knows how to pronounce his name.

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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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