Inside The Huskies

Husky Football Players Begin to Trickle Into Campus, Slowly and Carefully

As their Twitter feeds show, Washington players are turning up in Montlake. They're graduating on time. Others are taking orientation. The big thing will be to see if they can get a football season in.
Dan Raley|
Husky Football Players Begin to Trickle Into Campus, Slowly and Carefully
Husky Football Players Begin to Trickle Into Campus, Slowly and Carefully

Dormant for three months, the University of Washington is slowly reawakening.

Football players are showing up on campus, adhering to all sorts of safety precautions in place. Masks are like facemarks — they're worn at all times. 

Ever so carefully, the veteran Husky players are making their back to Seattle or arriving for the first time at the UW for the first time as freshmen students and trying to to find some sort of existence that defies the coronavirus pandemic. 

"It's like a sandwich and you don't know where to bite," UW head football trainer Rob Scheidegger said of combating the virus.

Highly regarded defensive tackle Levi Onwuzurike, a fifth-year senior from Allen, Texas, with one more UW season to play, already is a college graduate in four years, getting it done on time. 

He's not only an All-American candidate, but he's been selected in the past as a national and an All-Pac-12 academic selection. 

While Onwuzurike is eying a strong finish to all of his hard work, both in the classroom and on the field, the freshmen players have been checking in and getting set to go through mandatory UW orientation that is mandatory to all first-time students.

In the video, can you identify which one is new linebacker Sav'ell Smalls? He's not shy at all.

Others shown in the video are Roger Rosengarten, Makell Esteen, Carson Bruener, Rome Odunze, Samuel Peacock and Sam Adams II.

Odunze comes in as highly regarded as anyone in the Pac-12's No. 1 recruiting class. He could have gone anywhere in the country. The Huskies hope he finds the end zone with regularity. 

Wide receiver has been a UW position that needs a boost with others underachieving, slow to develop or injured at inopportune times. 

Meantime, J.T. Tuimoloau, an edge rusher from Eastside Catholic High School and considered the No. 1 schoolboy recruit in the nation, is never far from the thoughts of the Husky coaching staff. 

He's apparently in no hurry to choose from his long list of suitors. He has multitude of skills, including great hands that enable to be an exception basketball player. Washington has offered in scholarships in both football and basketball. 

It's his move now.

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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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