Inside The Huskies

Ulofoshio Talks About DeBoer Staff Motivating Him to Return

The Huskies linebacker talked about the new coaches rallying around him.
Dan Raley|
Ulofoshio Talks About DeBoer Staff Motivating Him to Return
Ulofoshio Talks About DeBoer Staff Motivating Him to Return

In this story:

Washington Huskies

With the Nevada temperatures outside reaching a scorching 111 degrees, Edefuan Ulofoshio was back home in Las Vegas, where he played his high school football, but he still was introducing himself around on Friday at Pac-12 media day.

Whereas every other player in attendance was a returning starter and/or all-conference selection, the University of Washington linebacker was coming off a five-game season as a reserve, actually finding himself in a serious comeback mode for much of the past 21 months.

Everyone around the Pac-12 knows Ulofoshio, of course, but a pair of injuries robbed him of a lot of game time, his starting job and a college football reputation that he had built as one of college football's best at his position.

"It's definitely been a humbling experience for me," Ulofoshio said at Resort Worlds Las Vegas. "I was hurt and had to watch a majority of the season from the sidelines."

So why come back for a sixth year of Husky football after so much heartache?

The new Kalen DeBoer staff won him over after he got hurt a second time, injuring a knee during winter workouts led by those coaches, and all of them showed him how much they cared when he was feeling down and out.

"One of the first things that I remember coming out of surgery was all of the coaches texted and called me," Ulofoshio said. "That first night, that first weekend, Coach [William] Inge came to my apartment. I definitely wasn't in the greatest mood at the time. Him being there to support me, meant a lot, understanding I'd only met him for a couple of months."

Ulofoshio, after giving up his Husky starting job for half of the 2021 season and all of last year, is healthy again, filled out and fit and poised to have a big season comparable to the player he was as a junior when Pro Football Focus deemed him the nation's top returning linebacker.

The DeBoer staff has him as motivated as ever and wanting to finish his Husky career strong, getting its first chance to have him in the lineup as the leader of the defense. 

"Having people love and support me, that side of the game made me want to come back bigger and better and stronger, given a bigger thing to play for," Ulofoshio said. "The family is so huge at the University of Washington. I feel I have a lot more to play for."

Go to si.com/college/washington to read the latest Inside the Huskies stories — as soon as they’re published.

Not all stories are posted on the fan sites.

Find Inside the Huskies on Facebook by searching: Inside Huskies/FanNation at SI.com or https://www.facebook.com/dan.raley.12

Follow Dan Raley of Inside the Huskies on Twitter: @DanRaley1 or @UWFanNation or @DanRaley3

Have a question, direct message me on Facebook or Twitter.

Published
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.

Home/Football