Ulofoshio Won't Play This Week, But the Linebacker Is Getting Closer
Kalen DeBoer, in his Monday briefing, brought up everybody's favorite part of the schedule — the bye week — which comes following the University of Washington football team's Saturday night game against California in Berkeley.
This break in the action, involving less intense and likely fewer practices and certainly no game for 13 days, is important on so many fronts.
One, it will give the Huskies, as a team, a chance to regroup physically and emotionally from two nonstop months of action, including five consecutive weeks of Pac-12 play.
Two, they might be able to get any number of their embattled cornerbacks, young or old, either healthy or mentally ready to play, or both.
And, three — and this one is big — this blank space on the schedule could mark the much-anticipated return of linebacker Edefuan Ulofoshio.
The Husky defense is in great need of something inspirational to happen after giving up an uncharacteristically high number of points and yardage.
Ulofoshio is coming off arm and knee injuries that required surgeries and he last appeared in a football game on Oct. 16, 2021, against UCLA.
Almost exactly a year ago. A football lifetime ago.
When Ulofoshio got hurt the first time, a different Husky coaching staff was in place, now scattered across the NFL and college football landscapes and civilian life in other jobs..
DeBoer's staff has only seen film of this one-time, second-team All-Pac-12 selection who Pro Football Focus once called, stat-wise, the best linebacker in the country.
"We're getting itchy with him," Husky coach Kalen Deboer said. "I know he is, too."
Similar to Zion Tupuola-Fetui, who returned against UCLA last season for the first time after tearing an Achilles tendon while Ulofoshio went down in that game, the linebacker will be eased back into action.
"It seems his smile is getting a little bigger every day knowing that he's getting closer," DeBoer said. "There will definitely be some hope that after the bye week we could be seeing him in some capacity."
Jackson Sirmon and Ulofoshio, close friends and former roommates, were the starting linebackers when the UW hosted California last season and beat the Golden Bears 31-24 in overtime, the week before that ill-fated UCLA game.
Sirmon now plays for Cal and the high-achiever Ulofoshio remains a pre-med student with a football scholarship doing everything to get back on the field again.
Asked what the highly decorated linebacker would bring to his football team, DeBoer said this: "His mindset is elite. He can stay focused just on the mental reps and how he goes about it. It's so important to him, and our players and our team knows that."
The mere presence of Ulofoshio in uniform, even if he stays on a play count because he's still coming back from a major knee injury, would be a huge boost to the Huskies and a defense that could use any kind of boost.
"He's a high-character guy and so when he speaks it's something he doesn't just ask of his team, it's something he does himself," DeBoer said. "He's a leader in every way. I think the team would be so excited for him that he would be back, just because they love him so much.
"We also know he would help us out as a football player."
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